Changing nature and sustainability of the industrial district model : the case of Technic Valley in France

This paper examines the impact of contemporary pressures on industrial districts and analyses the changes that are taking place in an industrial district confronted with disembedding and globalization. We discuss the following questions: what are the processes and consequences of disembedding for the changing shape and form of inter-firm trust, contract and network forms? Is there an evolution in subcontracting and trade interdependency? What is the role of institutional infrastructures? We performed a longitudinal qualitative study using a number of different data sources to analyse the evolution of one French industrial district, particularly how new pressures of internationalization and disembedding work to reconfigure inter-firm relations in this district. While the recent literature is dominated by notions about industrial districts that concern only the trend towards increased competition or disembeddedness, this article shows that there is no unilinear trend. In contrast with the findings of certain recent studies, we argue that economic logic does not fully account for recent developments since the adjustment that are being made by the district are characterized rather by re-embeddedness, increased cooperation and institutionalization.industrial district, globalization, economic sociology

Fictitious domain methods for two-phase flow energy balance computations in nuclear components

This paper is dedicated to the numerical simulation of nuclear components (cores and steam generators) by fictitious domain methods. The fictitious domain approach consists in immersing the physical domain under study in a Cartesian domain, called the fictitious domain, and in performing the numerical resolution on this fictitious domain. The calculation times are then efficiently reduced by the use of fast solvers. In counterpart, one has to handle with an immersed boundary, generally non-aligned with the Cartesian mesh, which can be non-trivial. The two fictitious domain methods compared here on industrial simulations and developed by Ramière et al. deal with an approximate immersed interface directly derived from the uniform Cartesian mesh. All the usual immersed boundary conditions (Dirichlet, Robin, Neumann), possibly mixed, are handled through a unique formulation of the fictitious problem. This kind of approximation leads to first-order methods in space that exhibit a good ratio of the precision of the approximate solution over the CPU time, which is very important for industrial simulations. After a brief recall of the fictitious domain method with spread interface (Ramière et al., CMAME 2007) and the fictitious domain method with immersed jumps (Ramière et al., JCP 2008), we will focus on the numerical results provided by these methods applied to the energy balance equation in a steam generator. The advantages and drawbacks of each method will be pointed out. Generally speaking, the two methods confirm their very good efficiency in terms of precision, convergence, and calculation time in an industrial context

FICTITIOUS DOMAIN SIMULATIONS FOR THE TWO-PHASE FLOW ENERGY BALANCE OF THE CLOTAIRE STEAM GENERATOR MOCK-UP

International audienceThe context of this paper is the numerical simulation of a nuclear component, in the framework of the NEPTUNE platform, by a fictitious domain method. We consider industrial simulations of twophase flows with the homogeneous equilibrium (or relaxed) model. The introduction of no remeshing fictitious domain method is mainly motivated by free surface studies, fluid-structure interactions or fast Cartesian mesh solvers. As a first step toward a full fictitious domain simulation, this paper focuses on the fictitious domain computation of the energy balance equation of a nuclear component. Considering the steam generator, this equation is solved by a finite-element volume-penalization method. We recall the model used for the energy balance equation and review the modelizations and the computations. An industrial simulation of the steam generator mock-up CLOTAIRE is presented in order to appreciate the accuracy and the limits of the fictitious domain approach. Exploring L2-norm error along some vertical enthalpy profiles, we claim that the relative error introduced by the fictitious domain method is globally decreasing with the space step and can be lower than 10-3 for space steps around the U-tube diameter size. We conclude that we can reach an enough precision for the industrial applications and benefit from numerical advantages due to the use of Cartesian meshes

Variation in physiological host range in three strains of two species of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria

Knowledge of the host range of a biocontrol agent (BCA) is fundamental. Host range determines the BCA's economic potential, as well as the possible risk for non-target organisms. Entomopathogenic fungal strains belonging to the genus Beauveria are widely used as BCA, but our knowledge of their physiological host range is only partial. The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of the physiological host range of three Beauveria strains belonging to two species, B. hoplocheli and B. bassiana. We performed laboratory mortality bioassays to assess their pathogenicity and virulence against nine insect pests, belonging to three orders: Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. Mortality rate, mean survival time and mycosis rate were used to estimate virulence. Pathogenicity was assessed as the capacity to cause a disease and induce mortality. Virulence was assessed as the severity of the disease based on mortality rate, mean survival time and mycosis rate. The results of this study revealed significant differences in the physiological host range of the three Beauveria strains tested. The three strains were pathogenic to all Diptera and Lepidoptera species tested. In the case of the Coleoptera, only the B. hoplocheli strain was pathogenic to the white grub Hoplochelus marginalis and only the B. bassiana strains were pathogenic to Alphitobius diaperinus. The B. hoplocheli strain was less virulent on Lepidoptera and Diptera than the two B. bassiana strains. The latter both exhibited very similar virulence patterns. The fact that B. hoplocheli and B. bassiana strains have different host ranges means that they can be used as BCA to target different pests. Impacts on non-target insects across multiple orders cannot be ruled out in the absence of ecological host range studies

Is Dropping out of High School More Likely after Stressful Life Events?

High school dropout is typically viewed as the result of long-held vulnerabilities such as learning problems. This research brief, by PRC visiting scholars Véronique Dupéré and Eric Dion and PRC faculty research associate Robert Crosnoe and colleagues, shows that recent stressful life events can lead to a student dropping out.Population Research Cente

From private collections to public exhibitions : the case study of Châteu La Coste

The current report corresponds to an internship at Château La Coste, in the department of art and architecture for the private collection of Patrick McKillen in Aix-En- Provence, France. The duration was of 4 months from the 15th August 2019 to the 15th December 2019. The collection of Patrick McKillen at Château La Coste consists of an outdoor exhibition 36 artworks and architecture installation from famous contemporary artists and architects worldwide. The first artist to construct a massive architectural building on the property was Tadao Ando, who built the art centre starting from 2009 and welcomed its first visitors only in the summer of 2011. The ongoing constructions on site today are of; Richard Roger, James Turell, Jean Nouvelle with Louise Bourgeois and Richard Long. On top of the outdoor installations there are three exhibition galleries on site, two Wilmotte galleries and Renzo Piano pavilion with a gallery space. The purpose of the internship experience was to understand and explore the functioning of private collections to their opening to the public by being in the heart of the management structure of Château La Coste. The internship was a need to comprehend the grounding work of exhibiting artworks that are the public. This report aims at answering the question of why private collectors open their collection to the public, how they follow their vision and why these new collectors have a willingness to open private collections to the public. The growing number of institutions like this one are becoming case studies to understand the changing cultural dynamics in the art market. This phenomenon is global and has become a new norm to consume culture to consume culture thought the private collection it is not a unique case that we are seeing with Château La Coste. Through academic research and my personal experience at the Château La Coste this report aims at understanding the trend of contemporary art collecting and exhibiting in our time

Network Dynamics in the French-Speaking and English-Speaking IS Research Communities

Using bibliographic data, we illuminate and compare the main references and schools of thought of the French-speaking and the English-speaking Information Systems (IS) communities, as well as the main research themes that emerged from 1996 till 2016. With the help of bibliometric techniques, we investigate the intellectual organization of the two communities based on a dynamic mapping of their research networks over the two periods 1996–2006 and 2007–2016. For these periods, we investigate all articles published in a journal representative of each community (Systèmes d’Information & Management and Management Information Systems Quarterly), as well as the references cited by these articles. We highlight similarities and differences between the research networks of both communities

Re-conceptualizing IS Strategic Alignment: the Translated Strategic Alignment Model (TSAM)

In this article, we propose a new conceptualization of strategic alignment leading to the proposal of a new model: the Translated Strategic Alignment Model (TSAM). We adopt a grounded theory approach, while studying three corporations. We then extend our research to other corporations through a Delphi method with five experts (IS consultants). The model of strategic alignment that we propose includes a three-level network involving the essential alignment of various stakeholders’ needs. We bring forward a new perspective on the fits traditionally studied in the literature and we propose seven fits whose “shores”1 make sense to practitioners. In corporations TSAM may open a new path leading to the achievement of organizational performance and competitive advantage in an organizational climate which may be socially enhanced

Aider et être Aidé: Système et Structure du Soutien Social Informel à Antananarivo et à Paris

The article investigates social aid in Madagascar

Simplified SIMPs and the LHC

The existence of Dark Matter (DM) in the form of Strongly Interacting Massive Particles (SIMPs) may be motivated by astrophysical observations that challenge the classical Cold DM scenario. Other observations greatly constrain, but do not completely exclude, the SIMP alternative. The signature of SIMPs at the LHC may consist of neutral, hadron-like, trackless jets produced in pairs. We show that the absence of charged content can provide a very efficient tool to suppress dijet backgrounds at the LHC, thus enhancing the sensitivity to a potential SIMP signal. We illustrate this using a simplified SIMP model and present a detailed feasibility study based on simulations, including a dedicated detector response parametrization. We evaluate the expected sensitivity to various signal scenarios and tentatively consider the exclusion limits on the SIMP elastic cross section with nucleons.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure