Documents found
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2281.More information
Returns of scale distribution in manufacturing : an illustration based on a panel of more than 700 french firmsThe aim of this study is to attempt to estimate, using as a dasis a panel of more than 700 French manufacturing firms covered over the period from 1981 to 1987, returns of scale distribution between firms. The first part relates the results obtained from econometric experimentation which enables, using a system of production factor demand, to assess the parameter for each sample firm. The second part attempts to determine the true diversity of returns of scale between firms and to look for the determining explanatory factors.
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2283.More information
Summary : Lexical context effect on meaning access of homographsWe present three lexical decision experiments investigating the effect of lexical context on homophonic homographs meaning access. In the two first experiments, each trial consisted of the presentation of a context word, an ambiguous word as a prime, and a target word. The context word was related either to the dominant or subordinate meaning, or was not related. The target word was related to the dominant meaning of the ambiguous word in Experiment 1, and to the subordinate meaning in Experiment 2. The presentation time of words and the ISI were also manipulated. The results indicated an early effect of the context on meaning access : whereas the presentation of a context word related to the same meaning as the target word resulted in a facilitation of reaction times, a context word related to a different meaning did not produce an inhibition effect on target processing time. Moreover, this pattern ofresults was obtained whatever the relative frequency of the meaning related to the target word. A third experiment was conducted in order to test the possibility of a direct priming effect between the context and the target words related to the same meaning. Our results are discussed with regard to the hypothesis of competition between the different meanings of homographs.Key words : representation, lexical ambiguity, homographs, context.
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2284.More information
On the role of the nature and rhythm of completion of the secondary task on working memory spansWorking memory span tasks require participants to maintain items in short term memory while performing some concurrent processing (e. g., reading, counting, problem solving). The aim of the present experiment was to contrast two hypotheses about the locus of the detrimental effect of the processing component on the maintenance of items. Does processing impede maintenance because both components share some basic cognitive processes and supplies, as suggested by the Time-Based Resource-Sharing model (Barrouillet, Bernardin, & Camos, 2004), or more simply because the strategies of maintenance are disrupted by the appearance of items to be concurrently processed. Eighty adult participants were given working memory span tasks in which they had to maintain letters while they judged either the parity (odd/ even) or the spatial position (top/ bottom) of series of numbers sequentially displayed on screen. Moreover, these numbers appeared either at a regular or at an unpredictable rhythm. In line with our expectations, and contrary to the hypothesis of a disruption of mnemonic strategies, parity judgements that require memory retrievals resulted in lower spans than the spatial judgements that rely on simple selection of response, while the rhythm of completion of the secondary task did not affect spans.
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2285.More information
Bajos (Nathalie) and Spira (Alfred). - The ACSF survey. Setting up a niultidisciplinary study of sexuality In order to develop a strategy for AIDS prevention and to construct models of the epidemic's evolution, the National AIDS Research Agency requested that a survey of sexual behaviour in France should be undertaken. Such a project was bound to be multidis- ciplinary and combine a descriptive epidemiological approach with a psychological and sociological analysis of factors involved in different types of sexual activity. A multidisciplinary team was set up which included epidemiologists, sociologists, demographers, psychologists and economists. The approach at every stage of the research process was interdisciplinary : defining the issues, designing the method, collecting the data, and analising them. However, it must be noted that the analyses that have been made up to date are still mostly monodisciplinary, even though the approach of each member of the team may have been influenced by the many multidisciplinary discussions that took place at the beginning of the research. An overall multidisciplinary analysis is being undertaken with the object of identifying the social and psychological conditions that lead to relations which involve what the epidemiologists call unsafe practices. The results are expected to provide the instrument necessary for the understanding of unsafe situations and thus to develop more adequate prevention strategies.
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2286.
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2287.More information
Abstract Rates of retreat are usually used to express coastal cliff erosion. They give a good appreciation of cliff recession but do not address the processes involved in cliff erosion. A diachronic study of the evolution of apart of the chalky coastline of the Pays de Caux (Normandy, France) by mean of cadastral surveys, aerial photographs, and field surveys and observations allowed us to obtain measurements of cliff retreat as well as single out individual erosional processes. Marine processes were found to act mainly in removing coastal sediments generated by subaerial processes. Cliff recession appears to be mainly dominated by mass movements unrelated to marine action and resulting in cliff collapse. These collapses generate massive accumulations overlying the shore platform at the cliff foot. Because these accumulations persist for some decades they obstruct the even redistribution of flint pebbles by longshore drift along the coast and thus favour wave attack on adjacent cliffs. The intensification of human activities on the coastline by means of jetties and groynes, as well as flint-pebble quarrying, have compounded this problem by reducing beach supply. As a result, rates of cliff retreat and the mean annual frequency of mass movements have doubled in the second half of the 20"' century.
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2288.More information
Implementation of local health policies : the territorial coordination of health in Brittany In the framework of a State’s strong positioning in public health, the present article analyses the implementation of the regionalisation and territorialisation processes. From the example of the territorial coordination of public health in Brittany, the article deals with : the consequences of the State’s ambiguities ; the plurality of the local representatives’ positions ; the difficulties encountered by health care animators to assert their legitimacy when public actors’ expectations are unclear. Finally, the article raises the question of the current State’s leadership capacities in a field where its resources are decreasing and its monopoly collapsing.
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2289.More information
Internet and society: reconfîguring patients and medical knowledge? This paper argues that the availability of health information on the Internet is playing a major role in changing medical knowledge and people's relationship with health information and advice. The nature of « ehealth » is first defined in order to move away from technological, medical or organisational models that have been given labels including, cybermedicine, telemedicine and health informatics. Theoretical conceptualisations of the relationship between reflexivity, health and information are used to identity key issues that include threats to medical expertise, risks to public safety and the doctor/patient relationship. This analysis suggests that the plural nature of knowledge available through the Internet and the blurring of the distinction between the producers and users of information is changing the nature of medical knowledge.
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2290.More information
Philippe Dessus - Is Instructional Design descriptive or prescriptive ? Educational Technology researchers often oppose descriptive vs. prescriptive view of Instructional Design methods. The descriptive view is the objective study of the activity effectively carried out, the prescriptive one is the activity which should be. The purpose of this paper is to use the descriptive- prescriptive framework to present research in the Instructional Design field. We consider alternately behavioristic, media-centered, systemic, cognitive, as well as constructivist research. This framework allows us to cross descriptive-prescriptive approaches with origin and use of Instructional Design methods. We claim that these approaches are both necessary.