Féerie pour un scandale : l’art et la morale dans Lolita (1958) de Vladimir Nabokov

L’apothéose morale du personnage narrateur Humbert Humbert consiste en une mise en récit d’actes transgressifs, la pédophilie et l’inceste. Comment réconcilier l’art et la morale ? Dans la préface de Lolita, V. Nabokov pose, par l’entremise du préfacier fictif John Ray, un regard ambigu où le moralisme et le scientisme du clinicien s’entremêlent. Dans la postface rédigée par V. Nabokov, l’auteur revendique ouvertement ses choix esthétiques et affirme que Lolita n’est pas porté par une intention morale. La lecture détaillée de la postface révèle un auteur en butte au scandale qui éclate. Les choix poétiques sont donc explicités. La jouissance esthétique propre à l’art transcende ainsi le moralisme. V. Nabokov fait montre d’un formalisme rigoureux qui met en avant la pureté de l’art et son hétéronomie. Un mouvement dialectique fait vaciller les assises morales du lecteur confronté à l’immoralité du texte. Les arguments spécieux du narrateur font de Lolita un chef-d’œuvre de casuistique. Lolita propose au lecteur une surmorale qui trouve à s’exercer dans le sanctuaire de l’art

A Comparison Between Different Cycle Decompositions for Metropolis Dynamics

In the last decades the problem of metastability has been attacked on rigorous grounds via many different approaches and techniques which are briefly reviewed in this paper. It is then useful to understand connections between different point of views. In view of this we consider irreducible, aperiodic and reversible Markov chains with exponentially small transition probabilities in the framework of Metropolis dynamics. We compare two different cycle decompositions and prove their equivalence

Convergence to equilibrium for a directed (1+d)-dimensional polymer

We consider a flip dynamics for directed (1+d)-dimensional lattice paths with length L. The model can be interpreted as a higher dimensional version of the simple exclusion process, the latter corresponding to the case d=1. We prove that the mixing time of the associated Markov chain scales like L^2\log L up to a d-dependent multiplicative constant. The key step in the proof of the upper bound is to show that the system satisfies a logarithmic Sobolev inequality on the diffusive scale L^2 for every fixed d, which we achieve by a suitable induction over the dimension together with an estimate for adjacent transpositions. The lower bound is obtained with a version of Wilson's argument for the one-dimensional case. Keywords: exclusion process, adjacent transpositions, logarithmic Sobolev inequality, mixing tim

Packaging Texture and Shape as Enhancers for Brand Positioning: The Moderating Role of Need for Touch (NFT)

This research-in-progress investigates the influence of two structural elements of brand’s packaging design, accessible by haptic exploration: texture and shape. The proposed conceptual framework details how these elements can facilitate the transfer of meaning to the brand and enhance its positioning in the consumer’s mind, especially in the case of a coherent symbolic message between these packaging attributes. Thus, we manipulate texture’s and shape’s gendered symbolic information and examine how they impact brand image and positioning. We will use two chocolate bar shapes (rectangular and oval) and two packaging textures (velvet-like and leather-like). According to previous research and researchers’ qualitative study, the rectangular shape and leather-like texture represent the masculine symbolic information while the oval and velvet-like represent the feminine one. The experiment’s main goal is to demonstrate the direct and interaction effects of texture and shape on gendered dimensions of brand personality, perceived quality, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention as well as the moderating role of Need for Touch. The authors argue that a clear packaging message with coherent symbolic cues will induce greater message accessibility by the customer, thus strengthening the brand image and positioning

Trust Effects on Brand Extension: A Tale of Two Countries

International audienc

La réaction d ’hémagglutination type Middlebrook-Dubos dans le diagnostic de la tuberculose bovine

La réaction d’hémagglutination type Middlebrook- Dubos, effectuée chez 118 bovins avec des hématies de mouton et la tuberculine soit dite « précipitée » soit I.P. 48 de l ’Institut Pasteur de Paris, a été positive dans 81 p. 100 des cas de tuberculose évolutive, avec des pourcentages variables selon la nature des lésions puisqu’elle a été maxima (100 p. 100) pour les lésions pleuro-pulmonaires, forte (87,3 p. 100) pour les lésions de plusieurs organes ou généralisées, et faible (50 p. 100) pour les lésions ganglio-pulmonaires . Par contre, elle a été le plus souvent négative lorsque les lésions étaient limitées aux ganglions pulmonaires et de type caséo-calcaire. Cette réaction a été très rarement (4,0 p. 100) positive chez des animaux apparemment sains, et toujours d’ailleurs à des taux faibles. Bien que des recherches portant sur de nombreux sérums soient encore nécessaires (pour préciser en particulier la signification des réactions positives chez les bovidés apparemment sains), on peut admettre, semble-t-il, dès maintenant, qu’une réaction nettement positive (5> 1/147) traduit toujours une tuberculose évolutive atteignant plusieurs organes. Elle paraît pouvoir dès maintenant rendre des services pour le diagnostic de la tuberculose et l’étude de la phtisiogenèse chez les bovidés

Numerical study of an arcan tensile compression shear test in dynamic: application to bonded joints

This paper presents a numerical study of the Arcan TCS testing device under dynamic conditions. This test is commonly used to characterize the mechanical behavior of bonded joints subjected to combined quasi-static loadings. In this study, the question of its extensibility to dynamic loadings by the use of an impactor guided in a drop tower is investigated. A dedicated finite element model is built under the plane stress assumption. Stress distributions in the adhesive are analysed trought time ans space for several configurations

Exploring the complementarity of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma preclinical models

Purpose: Compare pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), preclinical models, by their transcriptome and drug response landscapes to evaluate their complementarity. Experimental De-sign: Three paired PDAC preclinical models—patient‐derived xenografts (PDX), xenograft‐derived pancreatic organoids (XDPO) and xenograft‐derived primary cell cultures (XDPCC)—were derived from 20 patients and analyzed at the transcriptomic and chemosensitivity level. Transcriptomic characterization was performed using the basal‐like/classical subtyping and the PDAC molecular gradient (PAMG). Chemosensitivity for gemcitabine, irinotecan, 5‐fluorouracil and oxaliplatin was established and the associated biological pathways were determined using independent component analysis (ICA) on the transcriptome of each model. The selection criteria used to identify the different components was the chemosensitivity score (CSS) found for each drug in each model. Results: PDX was the most dispersed model whereas XDPO and XDPCC were mainly classical and basal-like, respectively. Chemosensitivity scoring determines that PDX and XDPO display a positive correlation for three out of four drugs tested, whereas PDX and XDPCC did not correlate. No match was observed for each tumor chemosensitivity in the different models. Finally, pathway analysis shows a significant association between PDX and XDPO for the chemosensitivity‐associated pathways and PDX and XDPCC for the chemoresistance‐associated pathways. Conclusions: Each PDAC preclinical model possesses a unique basal‐like/classical transcriptomic phenotype that strongly in-fluences their global chemosensitivity. Each preclinical model is imperfect but complementary, sug-gesting that a more representative approach of the clinical reality could be obtained by combining them. Translational Relevance: The identification of molecular signatures that underpin drug sensitivity to chemotherapy in PDAC remains clinically challenging. Importantly, the vast majority of studies using preclinical in vivo and in vitro models fail when transferred to patients in a clinical setting despite initially promising results. This study presents for the first time a comparison between three preclinical models directly derived from the same patients. We show that their applica-bility to preclinical studies should be considered with a complementary focus, avoiding tumor-based direct extrapolations, which might generate misleading conclusions and consequently the overlook of clinically relevant features.Fil: Hoare, Owen. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Fraunhoffer Navarro, Nicolas Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Elkaoutari, Abdessamad. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Gayet, Odile. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Bigonnet, Martin. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Roques, Julie. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Nicolle, Rémy. No especifíca;Fil: McGuckin, Colin. Cell Therapy Research Institute; FranciaFil: Forraz, Nico. Cell Therapy Research Institute; FranciaFil: Sohier, Emilie. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Tonon, Laurie. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Wajda, Pauline. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Boyault, Sandrine. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Attignon, Valéry. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Tabone, Luciana Belen. Le Centre Régional de Lutte Contre Le Cancer Léon Bérard; FranciaFil: Barbier, Sandrine. No especifíca;Fil: Mignard, Caroline. No especifíca;Fil: Duchamp, Olivier. No especifíca;Fil: Iovanna, Juan. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Dusetti, Nelson J.. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Franci