Le plunderphonique ou le piratage audio comme prérogative compositionnelle

Dans ce texte de 1985, l’auteur réfléchit sur la notion de droits d’auteur dans le contexte d’une culture populaire qui a dépassé les principes figés sur lesquels se sont établies les lois qui les régissent. L’artiste nous amène à comprendre la fin du paradigme producteur/consommateur : « Après avoir été pendant des décennies les récipients passifs de sélections de musiques préétablies, les auditeurs ont maintenant le loisir d’assembler leurs propres recueils, de séparer le bon grain de l’ivraie. Ils dupliquent une quantité de sons provenant d’un peu partout dans le monde ou, du moins, d’un peu partout dans leurs collections de disques, pour faire des compilations d’une variété infinie et surtout non disponibles parmi les produits offerts par l’industrie de la musique, avec ses écuries circonscrites d’artistes et une politique encore plus contraignante qui consiste à ne fournir que le plus grand dénominateur commun. » L’une des idées-forces du texte d’Oswald tient dans le fait qu’en agissant comme un filtre ne retenant que les hits potentiellement lucratifs, la plupart des étiquettes de disques avaient déjà pénétré un espace de vulnérabilité dans lequel leur produit final cesse de leur appartenir exclusivement. Oswald démontre clairement pourquoi l’industrie de la musique, propulsée par la radio (entre autres véhicule de distribution), a perdu son droit archaïque à une propriété exclusive sur chaque atome sonore. [Camilo La Cruz]In this 1985 paper, the author reacts to the notion of copyright laws in the context of a pop culture environment that had transcended the brick-and-mortar principles in which the law was based. The artist leads us to understand the end of the producer-consumer paradigm: “After decades of being the passive recipients of music in packages, listeners now have the means to assemble their own choices, to separate pleasures from the filler. They are dubbing a variety of sounds from around the world, or at least from the breadth of their record collections, making compilations of a diversity unavailable from the music industry, with its circumscribed stables of artists, and an ever more pervasive policy of only supplying the common denominator.” Perhaps one of the strongest ideas in Oswald’s paper is rooted in the fact that, by acting as a tight filter focused on big moneymaking hits, most record labels had already entered a vulnerable space in which their final product is not entirely theirs anymore. Oswald clearly articulates why the music -industry, powered by radio [among other distribution vehicles], lost their archaic right to have a tight ownership of every bit of sound. [Camilo La Cruz

Constructions of Europe in the fictional and political works of Albert Camus

Little of the vast literature on Albert Camus has been devoted to his ideas of Europe. Existing material is either biographical criticism or portrays Camus as pioneer and visionary of modem-day European integration. Though useful, these interpretations do not do justice to the complex plurality of Europe in Camus's ceuvre, which appears in several of his works. It is depicted in differing and intriguing ways, for example as a sombre, divided continent of despair (in the fictional works) or as an aspiration towards European unity as a means of preventing future war (in the political journalism). This thesis examines these manifestations with three aims. The first is to situate Camus's political discourse of Europe (his calls for European integration and related matters) within the history of ideas of Europe, highlighting his negotiation with and adoption of Europeanist discourses. Secondly, the thesis analyses Camus's fictional inscription of an imaginary Europe of fault lines and division using a space in literature approach and a Barthesian understanding of the antithesis. Thirdly, instances of dialogue within the ceuvre between his fictional and political discourses of Europe will be examined. The epistemological grounding for this is provided by Bakhtin's theories of the novel: Europe is conceived of as a multiplicity of overlapping discourses with which Camus relates dialogically, and between whose works there exists a similar dialogue of Europe. Such an approach offers both a new way of reading Camus's treatment of Europe and, potentially, of reading the history of the idea of Europe itself

An Analysis of the 2002 Farm Bill’s Value-Added Producer Grants Program

Our objective is to identify the determinants for success among USDA’s Value- Added Producer Grants (VAPG) program recipients. Business development has become an important program in departments of agricultural economics. Market share was found to be an important determinant of VAPG success. Size variables including greater sales and increased grant dollars, as well as a lower number of producers, were also determinants of business success. Departments of agricultural economics are likely best able to assist VAPG recipients by providing information on price discovery, explaining their relationship to potential plant location, and providing education on best management practices to help producers avoid costly mistakes.agribusiness, business development, value-added, Agribusiness, Financial Economics, Productivity Analysis,

British public opinion on France, the entente cordiale, and the Anglo-Russian entente: 1903-8

The Anglo-French Entente received almost from the moment of its inception the endorsement of the British people. Although Anglo-French relations had been steadily improving since the end of the Boer war and the denouement of the Dreyfus affair, it was the warm and friendly greeting which King Edward VII received during his State visit to Paris in the spring of 1903 that first made the various quarters of British public opinion desirous of a full-fledged understanding with France. The conclusion of the colonial Convention of 8 April 1904 reinforced this desire. With the exception of a handful of 'High Tories' and Imperialist stalwarts, most of whom complained that Britain lost more territory and privileges than she gained, the terms of this Convention proved acceptable to the bulk of the nation. Most Conservatives and Liberal Imperialists saw the Convention as a development which bolstered Britain's position in the world and which helped the nation meet the challenge of German expansionism, while most Radicals and Socialists saw it as a peaceful event which heralded the beginning of a series of bi-lateral pacts among the Powers, including Germany. Despite these high expectations, some disillusionment soon set in in various quarters of public opinion. Businessmen who nourished the idea that the rapprochement was economic as well as political in its ramifications discovered to their dismay that the Entente had done nothing to encourage the French to abandon protectionism. The short-lived trade boom which followed the signing of the 1904 Agreements was little compensation to them

Fluorescent protein-mediated colour polymorphism in reef corals: multicopy genes extend the adaptation/acclimatization potential to variable light environments

The genomic framework that enables corals to adjust to unfavourable conditions is crucial for coral reef survival in a rapidly changing climate. We have explored the striking intraspecific variability in the expression of coral pigments from the green fluorescent protein (GFP) family to elucidate the genomic basis for the plasticity of stress responses among reef corals. We show that multicopy genes can greatly increase the dynamic range over which corals can modulate transcript levels in response to the light environment. Using the red fluorescent protein amilFP597 in the coral Acropora millepora as a model, we demonstrate that its expression increases with light intensity, but both the minimal and maximal gene transcript levels vary markedly among colour morphs. The pigment concentration in the tissue of different morphs is strongly correlated with the number of gene copies with a particular promoter type. These findings indicate that colour polymorphism in reef corals can be caused by the environmentally regulated expression of multicopy genes. High-level expression of amilFP597 is correlated with reduced photodamage of zooxanthellae under acute light stress, supporting a photoprotective function of this pigment. The cluster of light-regulated pigment genes can enable corals to invest either in expensive high-level pigmentation, offering benefits under light stress, or to rely on low tissue pigment concentrations and use the conserved resources for other purposes, which is preferable in less light-exposed environments. The genomic framework described here allows corals to pursue different strategies to succeed in habitats with highly variable light stress levels. In summary, our results suggest that the intraspecific plasticity of reef corals’ stress responses is larger than previously thought

Effect of extended tooth contact on the modeling of spur gear transmissions

In some gear dynamic models, the effect of tooth flexibility is ignored when the model determines which pairs of teeth are in contact. Deflection of loaded teeth is not introduced until the equations of motion are solved. This means the zone of tooth contact and average tooth meshing stiffness are underestimated and the individual tooth load is overstated, especially for heavily-loaded gears. The static transmission error and dynamic load of heavily-loaded, low-contact-ratio spur gears is compared with this effect both neglected and included. Neglecting the effect yields an underestimate of resonance speeds and an overestimate of the dynamic load

Gear noise, vibration, and diagnostic studies at NASA Lewis Research Center

The NASA Lewis Research Center and the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command are involved in a joint research program to advance the technology of rotorcraft transmissions. This program consists of analytical as well as experimental efforts to achieve the overall goals of reducing weight, noise, and vibration, while increasing life and reliability. Recent analytical activities are highlighted in the areas of gear noise, vibration, and diagnostics performed in-house and through NASA and U.S. Army sponsored grants and contracts. These activities include studies of gear tooth profiles to reduce transmission error and vibration as well as gear housing and rotordynamic modeling to reduce structural vibration transmission and noise radiation, and basic research into current gear failure diagnostic methodologies. Results of these activities are presented along with an overview of near term research plans in the gear noise, vibration, and diagnostics area

Introduction: Interrogating Engaged Excellence in Research

Approaches to engaged research, which do not just produce academic knowledge, but link with people and groups in society, have long intellectual roots. In recent years, however, for epistemological, practical and ethical reasons, interest in such approaches has gained ground. At the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) we seek to adopt an ‘engaged excellence’ approach to research. We have identified four pillars that support engaged excellence: high-quality research; co-construction of knowledge, mobilising impact-orientated evidence; and building enduring partnerships. This introduction interrogates this approach, deepening our understanding of what it means, whilst also acknowledging the challenges which it poses. It raises questions about who defines what good quality research is; how, why and who we co-construct knowledge with; what counts as impact; and how we build enduring partnerships. It also touches on some of the implications for both researchers themselves and the institutions through which we work