Gain scheduled flight control law for a flexible aircraft : A practical approach

Abstract: This paper presents a gain-scheduling method applied to flight control law design. The method is a stabilitypreservinginterpolation technique ofexisting controllers under observer-state feedback form. Application is made on a flexible civil aircraft example considering multiple scheduling parameters. Although the interpolation technique gives powerful a priori stability guarantees, the sufficient condition to satisfy leads to conservative results in practice. We thus use a fixed observer model and check stability andperformance thanks to μ-analysis. Provided results are really satisfactory for a final controller of little complexity

Systems of secrecy : confidences and gossip in management accountants' handling of dual role expectations and MCS limitations

The article shows how secrecy - defined as the purposeful revelation of information to some and not others - is used by management accountants to pursue their roles as independent business controllers and nurture the social proximity required to be sought-after business advisers. The paper examines management accountants’ retentive and communicative strategies in reporting practices in a subset of a large multinational company. It conceptualizes systems of secrecy as the purposeful articulation between two types of revelations (confidences and gossip). It shows how confidences and gossip can be successive steps that structure informal reporting information flows and close social interactions helpful in dealing with tensions arising from attempts to manage interdependencies and to achieve individually specified targets. The article contributes to the literature on the dynamics of management accountants’ dual role by showing how they overcome the tensions between conflicting expectations through tactful and judicious distribution of information. It shows how the articulation of confidence and gossip creates a specific format of accounting talk which facilitates compromise through the succession of private one-on-one discursive spaces. It also complements the literature on management control systems (MCS) by giving a nuanced account of the virtues of secrecy in order to mitigate some of the unanticipated adverse effects of performance evaluations.PostprintPeer reviewe

LES INDIVIDUS ET LEURS ROLES : L'APPORT DES " PERSONNAGES " AU TRAVAIL VIVANT.

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to understand how individuals involved in contemporary firms characterized by managerial optimization practices may safeguard the conditions necessary for collective living praxis to happen. Michel Henry's concept of "living praxis" is a form of cooperation which satisfies life basic needs and increases the individuals' powers to act. The empirical material comes from a field study conducted in a large airport retailer company illustrating how the roles assigned to management accountants and operational managers are sometimes hindering and sometimes supporting living praxis. Gély's concept of "character" defined as the dynamic encounter of an individual and his/her role (2007) will help us identify the necessary conditions for collective living praxis to happen.Cet article précise comment des individus pris dans des rapports de production marqués par l'optimisation gestionnaire, parviennent à faire naître par endroit les conditions propices à un travail " vivant " défini par le phénoménologue Michel Henry comme une collaboration au service de la satisfaction des besoins nécessaires à la vie et qui accroit les pouvoirs d'agir de chacun. Une étude de cas portant sur les relations entre contrôleurs de gestion et managers d'une société de distribution aéroportuaire montre en quoi les rôles assignés aux individus sont tantôt des ressources et tantôt des carcans. Le concept de " personnage ", défini comme la rencontre dynamique d'un individu et d'un rôle (Gély 2007), nous permettra de préciser les conditions d'un travail collectif " vivant "

TENIR SON RANG : LE CONTROLE DE GESTION DANS LA DYNAMIQUE DU PARTAGE DES RESPONSABILITES AU SEIN DES GROUPES DE SOCIETES.

International audienceThis work deals with the dynamic of the distribution of responsibilities within large firms. It studies the mecanisms and the stakes that settle the tension between autonomy and control through the observation of management accounting practices. It clarifies the actors' intentions that trigger the evolutions in the control of subsidiairies. It is argued that managers from the parent companies are mostly trying to maintain their position in the exchanges between entities. Far from being neutral, management accounting tools and procedures are important sources of influence during negotiations around the distribution of legitimate tasks and responsibilities in business groups.Ce travail porte sur la dynamique du partage des responsabilités dans les grandes entreprises. Les mécanismes et les enjeux qui régulent la tension entre autonomie et contrôle sont observés empiriquement au travers des pratiques de contrôle de gestion. L'article clarifie certaines logiques d'acteurs à l'origine des évolutions constatées notamment dans l'exercice du contrôle des filiales. Il est démontré que les mesures de contrôle prises par les managers des maisons mères intermédiaires visent notamment à assoir leur position au sein des échanges. Loin d'être un instrument de mesure neutre ou encore le relais des aspirations stratégiques du sommet, le contrôle de gestion apparaît alors comme un levier central des agendas personnels des acteurs intermédiaires soucieux de légitimer leur position. La maîtrise des outils et des procédures du contrôle de gestion leur confère une position de force dans les négociations autour du partage des tâches et des responsabilités avec pour enjeu de tenir leur rang dans les structures de groupes

TENIR SON RANG : LE CONTROLE DE GESTION DANS LA DYNAMIQUE DU PARTAGE DES RESPONSABILITES AU SEIN DES GROUPES DE SOCIETES.

Ce travail porte sur la dynamique du partage des responsabilités dans les grandes entreprises. Les mécanismes et les enjeux qui régulent la tension entre autonomie et contrôle sont observés empiriquement au travers des pratiques de contrôle de gestion. L'article clarifie certaines logiques d'acteurs à l'origine des évolutions constatées notamment dans l'exercice du contrôle des filiales. Il est démontré que les mesures de contrôle prises par les managers des maisons mères intermédiaires visent notamment à assoir leur position au sein des échanges. Loin d'être un instrument de mesure neutre ou encore le relais des aspirations stratégiques du sommet, le contrôle de gestion apparaît alors comme un levier central des agendas personnels des acteurs intermédiaires soucieux de légitimer leur position. La maîtrise des outils et des procédures du contrôle de gestion leur confère une position de force dans les négociations autour du partage des tâches et des responsabilités avec pour enjeu de tenir leur rang dans les structures de groupes.Groupes, contrôle de gestion, maison mère, Goold et Campbell, étude de cas

Teaching to read empirical sections from qualitative academic management literature as Literature

This article advocates in favor of using existing qualitative research in management as a source of narratives relevant for teaching purposes. It suggests that empirical sections of selected academic articles (i.e. scientific literature with a small ‘l’) can be isolated from their context (abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology etc.) and read as short stories (i.e. Literature with a capital ‘L’) with noticeable pedagogical benefits. It builds on the author’s personal experience of a pedagogical experiment during which empirical sections from qualitative research articles published in the field of management accounting were used as stories to enhance classroom learning experience for teachers and students alike. It argues that such stories offered a unique combination of original narratives (like novels) with scientific legitimacy (like business cases) that enriched the students’ critical understanding of what is not there in much contemporary accounting education practices: uncertainty, ambiguity, doubt and subjectivity.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Unisite ATP hydrolysis by soluble Rhodospirillum rubrum F1–ATPase is accelerated by Ca2+

AbstractAt saturating concentrations of ATP, soluble F1 from the Rhodospirillum rubrum (RF1) exhibits a higher rate of hydrolysis with Ca2+ than with Mg2+. The mechanisms involved in the expression of a higher catalytic activity with Ca2+ were explored by measuring the ATPase activity of RF1 at substiochiometric concentrations of ATP (unisite conditions). At a ratio of 0.25 [γ-32P]ATP per RF1, the enzyme exhibited a 50 times higher hydrolytic rate with Ca2+ than with Mg2+. The rate of [γ-32P]ATP binding to RF1 was in the same range with the two divalent metal ions. Centrifugation–filtration of RF1 exposed to substoichiometric [γ-32P]ATP concentrations and Mg2+ through Sephadex columns yielded an enzyme that contained [γ-32P]ATP and [32P]phosphate in a stoichiometry that was close to one. In the presence of Ca2+, the eluted enzyme did not contain [γ-32P]ATP nor [32P]phosphate. This indicated that the rate of product release was faster with Ca2+ than with Mg2+. It was also observed that the ratio of multisite to unisite hydrolysis rates was of similar magnitude with both divalent cations. This suggests that they do not affect differently the cooperative mechanisms that may exist between catalytic sites. In consequence, the higher ATPase activity of RF1 in presence of Ca2+ strongly suggests that the retention time of products is decreased in the presence of this cation

Account books

Using examples from Rome, the Renaissance, and modernity, this chapter takes an historical view on how accounts allow organizations to coalesce. This phenomenon is described as a process of composition where the visual and material spaces of accounts prompt their users to perform ordered classifications of arguments that make organizations tangible. Organizing is thus conceived as the regular encounter between people and artefacts. Such encounters support the coexistence of different interconnected organizings, resulting from multiple engagements with the signs and words in account books, as illustrated by the outcomes of budgetary discussions between engineers and traders in a hydroelectric company.PostprintPeer reviewe

Beyond accountants as technocrats : a common good perspective

In a context characterised by the scientification of accounting practices and standards, an important question to pose is how might accounting professionals be released from an excessive focus on rationality (technical accuracy, technical neutrality and technical abstraction) and reclaim the profession in the public interest? Grounded in a person-oriented approach, we contend the common good principle can help accountants to mitigate the tyranny of economic rationality/homo economicus notably through greater consideration of public interest, thereby enabling them to exercise stronger ethical judgement. First, the common good can serve as a basis for the establishment of an ethical protocol based on the search for embedded community goods, human development and the personal good of each member. Second, the common good provides specific ethical principles including subsidiarity, totality, teleological hierarchy, long-term commitment, reality and unity that can better assist accounting professionals to exercise ethical judgement and therefore contribute to the public interest. In contrast to defending a strict adherence to ethical rules enshrined in professional codes of conduct, this article argues for an open ended protocol inspired by the common good principle. This will, we contend, better promote the re-contextualisation of accounting practices conducted by reflexive, sentient and publically-conscious practitioners.PostprintPeer reviewe