On contractive projections in Hardy spaces

We prove a conjecture of Wojtaszczyk that for $1\leq p<\infty$, $p\neq 2$, H_p(\mathbbT) does not admit any norm one projections with dimension of the range finite and bigger than 1. This implies in particular that for $1\leq p<\infty$, $p\ne 2$, $H_p$ does not admit a Schauder basis with constant one.Comment: 9 pages, to appear in Studia Mathematic

A catalogue of velocities in the direction of the cluster of galaxies Abell 496

We present a catalogue of velocities for 466 galaxies in the direction of the cluster Abell 496, in a region covering about 160' x 160' (9.2 x 9.2 Mpc for an average redshift for Abell 496 of 0.0331, assuming H$_0$=50 km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$). This catalogue includes previously published redshifts by Proust et al. (1987), Quintana and Ramirez (1990) and Malumuth et al. (1992), redshifts from the CfA redshift survey, together with our new measurements. A total of 274 galaxies have velocities in the 7800-11800 km/s interval, and will be considered as members of the cluster. Abell 496 therefore becomes one of the few clusters with a high number of measured redshifts; its physical properties are investigated in a companion paper.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Supplement Serie

Managing Intra-Party Democracy: Comparing the French Socialist and British Labour Party Conferences

The French Socialists and British Labour consider intra-party democracy as a central tenet of their philosophies. It is a core value that orientates their political attitudes and defines their identity. Traditionally, they have privileged a particular type of decision-making, based on the sovereignty of the party conference. However, at the beginning of the 1990s, these meetings projected a damaging image of division and chaos. Confronted with the intense scrutiny of their internal debates by the media, the two parties had to find a better balance between their culture and practices, and the need to promote an image of unity and efficiency. They introduced a number of reforms that, they claim, have expanded the possibilities for individual members to participate while at the same time giving the two leaderships a firmer grip on decision-making. Based on qualitative research conducted over many years, this paper explores the parties' new attitudes to internal democracy and analyses the process of power redistribution within the organizations

A typology of distance-based measures of spatial concentration

International audienceOver the last decade, distance-based methods have been introduced and then improved in the field of spatial economics to gauge the geographic concentration of activities. There is a growing literature on this theme including new tools, discussions on their specific properties and various applications. However, there is currently no typology of distance-based methods. This paper fills that gap. The proposed classification helps understand all the properties of distance-based methods and proves that they are variations on the same framework

Generalizing Ripley's K function to inhomogeneous populations

In spatial statistics, Ripley's K function (Ripley, 1977) is a classical tool to analyse spatial point patterns. Yet, it faces two major limits: it is only pertinent for homogeneous point processes and it does not allow the weighting of points.We generalize it to get a new function, M, which oversteps these limits and detects spatial structures of inhomogeneous populations of weighted points.Spatial statistics ; point processes ; Ripley

Measures of the Geographic Concentration of Industries: Improving Distance-Based Methods

This study introduces two new measures of spatial concentration. The proposed M functions constitute an extension to Ripley's functions (Ripley, 1976, 1977). They allow the evaluation of the relative geographic concentration and co-location of industries in a non-homogeneous spatial framework. Some rigorous comparisons with similar recently developed tools prove the relevance of the M functions in the field of spatial economics.Geographic concentration ; Distance-based methods ; Ripley's K function ; M function

Formal property titles or more? Perspectives from Ghana's financial institutions

The dead capital thesis of de Soto has raised a lot of debate on the  relationship between formal property titles and access to credit. Various authors have argued that overconcentration of policy efforts on providing formal property titles could be overly simplistic. The argument has largely been made along the logic espoused in the ‘dead capital theses’. However, more than a formal title is required to access credit from formal financial institutions by small businesses. The aim of this paper is to examine the critical factors inhibiting credit access by SMEs and assess the relative  importance of formal titles amongst the other factors responsible for the financing gap. Surveys were conducted amongst officials of various financial institutions using structured questionnaires. The data was analysed using factor analysis. The results show that formal lenders perceive the absence of formal property titles to be a factor inhibiting SMEs credit access albeit the exact effect is very marginal relative to other factors.Keywords: Access to credit; Dead capital; Financial institutions; Formalproperty title; SMEs

Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structure for U.S. Artists

Documents and analyzes the environment of support for individual artists. Provides a framework for analysis of various dimensions of the support structure, nationally and in specific sites across the U.S. Includes support programs and policy initiatives

Nanotubes de carbone : quels risques pour l’environnement ?

Depuis le coup de projecteur sur les nanotubes de carbone au début des années 1990, les extraordinaires propriétés de ces nanoparticules ont déclenché un effort de recherche considérable qui s’est très rapidement traduit par la commercialisation de nombreux produits en contenant, comme souvent sans aucun recul quant à leur impact potentiel sur l’environnement

After Communism

Souvent traités séparément, les cas chinois et européens de l’Est sont abordés conjointement dans un ouvrage interdisciplinaire consacré aux institutions politiques et sociales, aux transformations socio-économiques et aux relations entre État et société. L’angle d’approche tend à présenter l’action de l’État-Parti en Chine sous un jour favorable