« Stock » et « Capital » dans The Wealth of Nations : traduire pour comprendre

Cette note propose une réflexion sur les concepts de « stock » et de « capital » dans An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations d’Adam Smith. La traduction de la dénomination « stock », en français, pose de nombreux problèmes, lesquels s’ajoutent aux ambiguïtés d’un texte qui balance largement entre une conception pré-smithienne, qui utilise « capital » pour désigner une somme d’argent susceptible d’être investie ou ayant déjà fait l’objet d’un investissement, et une conception qui assimile le « capital » aux actifs physiques. Cette note propose d’adopter la notion de « richesses mobiliaires », empruntée au vocabulaire de Turgot, pour résoudre certaines de ces difficultés tout en préservant l’ambiguïté du texte de Smith, laquelle traduit certaines des difficultés théoriques rencontrées par l’auteur dans la conceptualisation du capital.This paper discusses the concepts of "stock" and "capital", as envisaged in The Wealth of Nations, from the perspective of their translation into French. Clearly the translation of "stock" poses serious problems, to which one must add Smith's continual hesitations between a definition of "capital" as money invested and a definition which equates "capital" with the things in which it has been invested. It is suggested that by translating "capital" by "capital" and "stock" by "richesses mobiliaires", borrowed from Turgot's writings, one can expect to solve some of these problems without hiding Smith's own ambiguity. More generally, it is shown that problems of translation raise interesting theoretical questions and that they cast a new light on the way the reader may approach the original text

La théorie de l’entrepreneur de Turgot : commentaire

L’objet de cette note est d’évaluer la contribution critique présentée par Gérard Pelletier dans cette revue (« L’Entrepreneur dans la pensée économique : l’originalité méconnue de Turgot », vol. 66, juin 1990). Nous établissons, en premier lieu, que, contrairement à ce qu’affirme l’auteur, les commentateurs n’ont pas négligé la distinction du capitaliste et de l’entrepreneur chez Turgot. Enfin, sans rejeter l’idée que la théorie de l’entrepreneur de Turgot est singulière, nous montrons que son originalité réside plus dans la notion de « capitaliste entrepreneur » que dans la distinction du capitaliste et de l’entrepreneur qu’elle est supposée introduire antérieurement à Say.It is the purpose of this note to appraise the relevance of the point made by Gérard Pelletier in his "L'Entrepreneur dans la pensée économique : l’originalité méconnue de Turgot" (L’Actualité économique, vol. 66, June 1990) that Turgot developed an original theory of the entrepreneur. First, unlike what Pelletier maintains, it is not clear at all that commentators have neglected the distinction established by Turgot between the entrepreneur and the capitalist. In addition, Pelletier's contention that Turgot's theory is original because of his priority in distinguishing the entrepreneur from the capitalist is not convincing. Rather, the actual priority of Turgot rests on his theory of the capitalist entrepreneur

Tétanie, spasmophilie, syndrome d'hyperventilation : synthèse théorique et thérapeutique.

peer reviewedLe syndrome d’hyperventilation(SHV), caractérisé par des symptômes somatiques multiples induits par une hyperventilation inappropriée, constitue la description physiopathologique d’un trouble fréquent en médecine générale. Synonyme de spasmophilie, ou encore de tétanie normocalcique, il présente l’avantage de proposer des critères diagnostiques, même si ceux-ci sont encore vagues. Mais sa définition permet des mesures objectives : en effet, on peut facilement quantifier la chute de PCO2 lors d’un test de provocation d’hyperventilation, ou la PCO2 anormalement basse au repos. Le concept de syndrome d’hyperventilation propose également un traitement structuré (rééducation respiratoire, psychothérapie et pharmacologie) et efficace. Malgré tout, il subsiste certaines incertitudes scientifiques à son sujet. Il n’existe pas de consensus concernant les critères à prendre en compte lors d’un test de provocation d’hyperventilation pour diagnostiquer un syndrome d’hyperventilation ; la spécificité de ce test est faible et un placebo (hyperventilation isocapnique) peut induire autant de symptômes que lui. La rééducation respiratoire, si elle donne de bons résultats, n’agit pas pour autant nécessairement sur la PCO2. Certains y voient uniquement un mécanisme de relaxation et une explication rationnelle aux symptômes effrayants. Tout ceci pousse certains auteurs à rejeter le terme « syndrome d’hyperventilation », pour préférer celui «d’hyperventilation chronique de cause inconnue »

A typology of goat farming in Reunion Island prior to the implementation of a breeding scheme adapted to the French overseas departments

In September 2008, The "Office de développement de l’économie agricole d’outre-mer" carried out an assignment in the five French overseas departments and territories to evaluate the demand for genetic improvement of breeding goats (Boué et al., 2008). This expertise concluded with an original proposal: testing the implementation of a common breeding scheme adapted to the 5 territories. As Reunion Island offers a favourable context for such a project, it was proposed to locate the selection nucleus there. For this purpose, a first assessment of the diversity of livestock systems was undertaken to understand farmer practices and breeding management orientations. We present here A typology of goats’ livestock systems stemming from a study realized in 2009 (Bouyssière, 2009) is thus presented in this paper

Elaboration of metallic compacts with high porosity for mechanical supports of SOFC

The development of third generation Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) with metallic mechanical supports presents several advantages over that of ceramic stacks by offering a lower cost and longer lifetime of the stacks. As a consequence, it is necessary to prepare metallic porous compacts that remain stable at the operating temperature of the SOFC (700–800 C) under reductive atmosphere. This paper presents an innovative process to elaborate iron, nickel and cobalt porous compacts. The process is based on the thermal decomposition of metal oxalate precursors with controlled morphology into metallic powders with coralline shape. Uniaxial compaction of such powders (without binder addition to the powders) under low uniaxial pressures (rising from 20 to 100 MPa) gave rise to green compacts with high porosity and good mechanical properties. After annealing at 800 C under H2 atmosphere, the compacts still present interconnected porosity high enough to allow sufficient gas flow to feed a SOFC single cell in hydrogen: the porosity rises from 25 to 50% for iron compacts, from 20 to 50% for cobalt compacts, and is higher than 40% for nickel compacts. Results from physicochemical characterization (XRD, SEM, gas permeation, Hg porosimetry) corroborated the process for SOFC application

Fast and Adjustable Resolution Grazing Incidence x-ray Liquid Surfaces Diffraction achieved through 2D Detector

We developed a setup using a two dimensional camera for Grazing Incidence x-ray Diffraction (GIXD) on Langmuir monolayers and more generally for surface diffraction on two dimensional powders. Compared to the classical setup using a linear detector combined with Soller's slits, the acquisition time is reduced of a factor of at least 10 (from more than one hour to a few minutes) using the same x-ray source (synchrotron bending magnet) with a comparable signal to noise ratio. Moreover, using an horizontal gap slit, the experimental resolution can be adjusted and for small values of the gap, better resolution can be achieved compared to the one obtained with the linear detector.Comment: 37pages, 11 figure

Intermediate temperature SOFC single cell test using Nd1.95NiO4+δ as cathode

This work deals with SOFC single cell tests using neodymium nickelate Nd1.95NiO4+δ as cathode material. This MIEC oxide exhibits high values of both surface exchange coefficient (k) and oxygen diffusion coefficient (D*), as well as high electronic conductivity, which result in an enhanced electrochemical activity with respect to classical materials. The SOFC cells were fabricated from an anode-supported electrolyte half-cell provided by InDEC B.V. Corporation, with a 36mmdiameter. The Nd1.95NiO4+δ cathode was prepared as a two-stage electrode consisting of a thin interlayer of several hundred nanometers covered by a thicker layer of dozens microns. The Nd1.95NiO4+δ oxide powders were synthesized using different routes in order to reduce the final annealing temperature, and to subsequently obtain submicronic powders. I–V characteristics of the single cells were investigated under hydrogen–air conditions. The power densities versus current densities curves are reported and the results of impedance spectroscopy measurements performed under these operating conditions are discussed