Search

Koskinen argues that governance is the core function of institutions (2014: 481) and that multilingual institutions employ translation in governing. The need to govern by translation creates a specific translation practice and it is from this perspective that we will analyze the federal government's budget speeches from 1970 to 1995. The study of the politico-budgetary texts in our corpus will draw on critical discourse analysis, an approach which aims to bring to light power relations often hidden in communication processes (Fairclough, 2015 [1989]). In particular, we will evaluate potential discrepancies between the French and English speeches in the corpus. Are these differences indicative of a power struggle between the two linguistic communities? Ideological markers will be identified in the corpus through the use of semi-automated analysis that will pinpoint the occurrences of Canada lemmas in the original English texts and their French translation. This text mining will be done with the aid of bilingual and unilingual concordancers. In our previous work, notably on the translation of televised addresses, the translation of the lemmas Canada involved a power struggle between Quebec nationalist discourse and pan-Canadian nationalist discourse. Our study will demonstrate that this type of power struggle is still to be found in budget speeches, albeit with some differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to the debate on the place of agriculture within the cities and the evolution of urban agriculture (UA) typologies and their modes of appropriation by city dwellers. In particular, it investigates the representations of UA in the context of direct democracy experience : the participatory budget of the city of Rennes (Brittany) (2015-2016). The innovative dimension of this article is based on the source of discursive data that includes the proposals of the project promoters, and the technical departments and city dwellers comments and remarks. So it is possible to take into account the standpoint of a broader spectrum of actors that have multiple and sometimes discordant point of views. The principal tools adopted to carry out the analysis were discourses and lexical analysis. The main objective is to detach the actor's different positions on the integration of agriculture into urban spaces based on project proposals and commentaries related. In addition, it aims to point out the contribution of the representations and the standpoints of the linkage between men and land to the collective and collaborative production of UA. Social ties, agricultural production, education, so pluralities of arguments are aired and it is backdrop the desire to live together. However, the conditions for the UA development are discussed and several constraints emerge questioning the place of UA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sustainable water resource management requires the control of the component of hydrological balance. The evapotranspiration is the main factor of water loss in the area of Djelfa, with a semi arid climate. Several physical and empirical methods (Thornthwaite, Blaney- Griddle, Turc, Bouchet and the Penman-Monteith-FAO method) using climatic and meteorological data are now available to estimate potential evapotranspiration. Climatic data available in the meteorological station of the Djelfa area covers the period 1984/1985 to 2005/2006. They include temperature, relative humidity, wind speed values and sunshine. Reference evapotranspiration has been calculated by all the models above. Resultants from using the over reference evapotranspiration calculation methods were compared to those from piche evapotranspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The authors propose a specific methodology and definitions to determine the energetic efficiency of any energy production system and process therein, in agreement with the laws of physics and taking into account technical constraints. The method rests on the calculation of a modular indicator, the expenditure rate, ratio of the energetic costs to the gains of the system. An expenditure rate above 1 questions the system efficiency. We underline the importance of the data sources and of their uncertainties to calculate the expenditure rate starting from the deconvolution of a system in various stages, from the extraction of the natural resource to its final form of use, including the materials, the losses, and the energy contributions. As the efficiency indicator does not inform us about the extractible amount of the studied resource and of others, it should be completed with a specific study about their reserve and future production (where the expenditure rate acts as a criterion). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The management of the supply chain is a matter of delicate balance. This is certainly due to its position at the crossroads between suppliers and users requirements, as well as logistic, financial and technical regulations. For a public organisation like EFS, whose annual budget amounts to 697 millions euros, there is a lot at stake: supplies represent the second most important item of its budget accounting for 38% of annual expenses. Three quarters of the purchases concern basic activities such as blood collection, testing procedures, transformation and distribution of blood products. The last quarter is spent on more general activities (computer systems, telecommunications…). Professionalisation of the purchasing function has grown since the creation of the government-owned organisation as a single national unit (EFS) in the year 2000. Its consequences can be felt especially in the field of the “core activities”. The current stage consists in maintaining close links between all the skills necessary to a high-quality supply chain. The latter will undoubtedly be beneficial to the medical, technical and support departments of EFS, which are the in-house customers to satisfy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article intends to analyze the impact of a set of participatory forums at state level in the relation between executive and Legislative powers at Rio Grande do Sul, as well as in the improvement of the mechanisms of public control on the same ones. The objective is, therefore, to analyze the participatory effects of the forums promoted by Participatory Budgeting (OP-RS) -- a state Executive initiative -- and by the Democratic Forum -- a state Legislative initiative -- on democratic practice in the Rio Grande do Sul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do civil society organizations have a didactic role in instructing its members about politics that extrapolates the immediate issues of interest of that organization? Most of the literature, especially that on the role of the participatory budgeting process of the Workers´ Party in Brazil, claims that such meetings are an opportunity structure for individuals to come together and not only debate their local problems, but also discuss politics more broadly. The same logic applies to other forms of activism, such as participation in Labor Unions, political parties, neighborhood associations and even church groups. This paper attempts to test, using a unique public opinion panel dataset of Brazilian voters collected in the 2002 elections, if activists are, in fact, better informed about politics, specifically, about campaign issues. In addition, the paper also tests if potential informational gaps caused by gender, race and class are attenuated by participation in civil society organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nitrogen fixation, nitrate assimilation and primary production (13C/15N method) were investigated during one year and half in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Nitrogen fixation was detectable all over the year with rates ranged from 2 to 17 nmol N l−1 d−1 d. Highest values being obtained during spring associated with the phytoplankton bloom. High rates (4–8 nmol N l−1 d−1 d) were also measured during summer, when primary productivity was very low. Then, diazotrophy process supplies significant new nitrogen during summer oligotrophic periods. This new nitrogen input can balance the annual nitrogen biogeochemical budget in the Mediterranean Sea and should explain the high nitrate/phosphate ratio observed in deep waters. To cite this article: N. Garcia et al., C. R. Biologies 329 (2006). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The budget constraint as a bookkeeping identity is a fundamental concept for standard microeconomics. Glower reinterpreted it as a rational planning postulate. Formulated for the first time by Janos Kornai (1979) in the context of a Communist economy, the soft budget constraint (SBG) is a heresy for standard microeconomics and for Clower, since a budget constraint is hard by definition. However this concept is now being used to analyze post-Communist, emerging, developing and even advanced capitalistic economies. Over the past fifteen years, the SBC, owing to its generality, has motivated attempt to formalize it as a problem of asymmetry in information. This has reduced the SBC to a problem of time inconsistency, i.e. the lack of credible commitment by the Principal. Thus incorporated in the new micro economics, the SBC has lost its institutional specificity, this loss impoverishing the concept on a theoretical level. We are thus led to reconsider the premises underlying the original concept and to inquire into the theoretical contradictions and tensions that, ever since Kornai's initial formulation, have been running through his works and impeding the emergence of a more coherent institutional theory of the SBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of the sedimentary grains produced by the sea urchin Echinometra mathaei were described from two reef sites: a fringing Acropora-dominated reef at La Reunion island (Indian Ocean) and a barrier Porites-dominated reef at Moorea island (French Polynesia). The composition of the sediment produced by Echinometra was determined from SEM observations. The size and shape of the particles were measured by using image analysis method. The grain diameters range between a few micrometres and 2 mm, with a large predominance (more than 80 %) of particles smaller than 400 μm. The grain size distribution is dependent on the nature of the grazed substratum. Echinometra individuals collected at La Reunion on branching Acropora colonies produce a higher proportion of particles smaller than 200 μm compared to those collected at Moorea on massive Porites colonies. At Moorea, more grains having a diameter comprised between 200 and 500 μm are produced. The microstructure of coral substrata affects the mean particle diameter, which is 192,17 μm for a Acropora substratum and 244,69 μm for a Porites substratum. Since the sediment derived from Acropora erosion is finer, the proportion of suspended material that is exported from the reef is greater at La Reunion than at Moorea. We estimate that, for similar erosion rates and hydrodynamic conditions, the production of sands by Echinometra mathaei is higher and the retention of this erosional sediment more effective on reefs dominated by massive Porites than on Acropora-dominated reefs. This result is in accordance with the proportions of suspension-moving grains that have been previously measured on Moorea and La Reunion reefs. This study highlighted the effect of coral communities on the production of particles related to the bioerosion and on the sedimentary budget. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Le Cameroun utilise un système de budgétisation historique et une approche «top - down» pour allouer ses ressources de santé publique. Cependant, le pays compte 175 districts de santé dont les fortes disparités de nature épidémiologique, économique, géographique et culturelle, devraient être prises en compte pour réduire les iniquités en matière de sante publique. Comment comprendre alors que dans ces conditions, le budget des administrations publiques alloué aux différents districts de santé au Cameroun soit quasi identique alors que les défis sont si différents? L'inefficience allocative (mauvaise attribution du budget) générée par un tel système conduit vraisemblablement à une inefficience technique (mauvaise utilisation du budget). Pour la marche vers l'atteinte des objectifs du millénaire en matière de sante, il est impératif et urgent que les décideurs du secteur de la santé allouent de manière intelligente les ressources dans le système de santé. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]