Mondialisation | EPFL Graph Search

Le terme de mondialisation correspond à un libre échange des marchandises, des capitaux, des services, des personnes, des techniques et de l'information. Il désigne le processus d'intégration des marchés et de rapprochement des humains qui résulte notamment de la libéralisation des échanges, du développement des moyens de transport de personnes et de marchandises, et des retombées des technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) à l'échelle planétaire. Elle se manifeste, outre l'interdépendance croissante des économies (mondialisation économique) et l'intensification de la concurrence, par l'expansion des échanges et des interactions humaines. Selon Olivier Dollfus : « la mondialisation, c’est l'échange généralisé entre les différentes parties de la planète, l'espace mondial étant alors l'espace de transaction de l'humanité ». La revue Sciences humaines considère que la mondialisation peut avoir plusieurs définitions selon l'interprétation des pouvoirs publics, des en

L'événement proxémique : étude des relations de circulation entre piétons aux heures de pointe à Delhi, Los Angeles, Paris et Tokyo

Lucas François Tiphine

In a context of traffic networks saturation related to urbanisation acceleration, this research is aimed at contributing to the scientific debate on this issue by building a model to describe dynamic pedestriansâ physical distances regulation behaviours in public places. The urban dimension of Edward T. Hallâs theory of proxemics is taken as an initial inspiration. This author argues that a correlation exists between the organisation of space at the macro level of Society and the micro level of individual behaviours. It leads him to a synthetic distinction between âcontact culturesâ and ânon-contact culturesâ. The former tends to prefer smaller distances at all scales of space organisation compared to the latter. This hypothesis is considered seriously in the research. Nonetheless, Hallâs macro culturalist anthropological area distinction (e.g.: the âArab Worldâ = âcontact cultureâ) is not relevant anymore in the urban globalization era. Therefore, a new âmicromacroâ theory, based on 4 macro orientations expected to have an influence on micro behaviours, is proposed: equality between urban citizens, individualisation, relative urbanity and urban planning regulation. Two other scalar correlation theories of spatial relations description are also tested. One, called âmicromesoâ, is based on Roger Barkerâs behaviour setting theory. It states that proxemical behaviours are correlated with intermediate units related to a specific place and time such as âthe subway at peak hoursâ. The other theory, called âmicroâ, states that any form of scalar correlation is an ecological fallacy. Accordingly, the description process has to remain at the very level of physical distance relations between individuals. These different theories are tested empirically in Delhi, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo which all answer differently to the macro orientations of the micromacro theory. Behaviours inside the metro and outside of it are observed (micromeso theory). In each condition, similar levels of spatial competition for places are taken into consideration (micro theory). The results lead to conclude that traffic relations between pedestrians are best described when considered cumulatively as micro > micromeso > micromacro by order of efficiency. Eventually, I defend the thesis that urban dwellers should debate of traffic relationships micro conditions improvements rather than focusing on micromacro and micromeso explanations of the networks breakdowns which can be found for instance in the competition promoted between individuals on civil behaviours.

EPFL2018

Comprendre la société-Monde par ses enjeux et ses acteurs

Olivier Vilaça

The aim of this thesis is to understand the World as a full-fledged object, namely as the space of a society. This objective is at the same time necessary and problematic. It is necessary because the sudden end of the Cold War entailed the need of new conceptual frameworks to understand the World without the confrontation of two ideological blocs. In parallel, the acceleration of globalization based on transnational and reticular processes profoundly questioned the apportionment of the World in territories and the classical distinction between the national and international spheres. This phenomenon also brought about the emergence of social issues (such as AIDS and climate change) and of non-state actors (such as globalized companies and Non-Governmental Organizations) which cannot be understood without taking into account their global dimension. Faced with these profound changes, it is important to be able to apprehend the World in its global dimension, going beyond its economic aspects. The so-called Global society model, which considers the existence of a global society as a possible option, allows this. However, the methodological nationalism – on which social sciences were based and according to which each society is necessarily linked with a territory, a State and a nation – makes it difficult to use this model to understand the World. Social sciences concepts, theories and methods were developed to conceive the World as a sum of objects (i.e. states, civilizations) and not as a full-fledged object. To go beyond this limit, the approach of this thesis is to apprehend the World through its issues and actors. In particular, I tried to understand if, and how, the involvement of the Lafarge company in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic between 2002 and 2005 contributed to the development of a global society. Through the results of participant observation and an analysis of non-directive interviews with managers from Lafarge who were involved in the development of the company's AIDS program, I identified three main contributions to the emergence of a global society. First, the company contributed to the social construction of the AIDS epidemic as a global issue : in particular, the global approach the company adopted to deal with the AIDS epidemic was notably different from its traditional modus operandi in the field of social responsibility based on a local and decentralized approach. In addition, through its decision to provide its employees, their families and sometimes local communities with antiretroviral treatments in certain circumstances, the company participated in global controversies on cost-effectiveness of triple therapy, use of generic drugs and health as a global public good. Second, Lafarge's AIDS program contributed to reinforce the global dimension of the group, mainly by providing the power of the corporate with legitimacy, but also by contributing to the development of a global identity and by promoting interactions among subsidiaries. Third, the company contributed to building a global political arena, in particular through its interactions with a series of other global actors belonging to the same responsibility community. These interactions created legitimacy, transparency, institutions and norms at the global level, contributing to the emergence of a transnational deliberative arena. This thesis thus shows that it is possible to view the world as a full-fledged object and to overcome methodological nationalism by studying transnational objects, such as a globalized company and a global issue. It shows that Lafarge's involvement in the fight against AIDS contributes to the emergence of a global societal reference with a strong political dimension.

EPFL2009

Robust Multivariate and Nonlinear Time Series Models

Time series modeling and analysis is central to most financial and econometric data modeling. With increased globalization in trade, commerce and finance, national variables like gross domestic productivity (GDP) and unemployment rate, market variables like indices and stock prices and global variables like commodity prices are more tightly coupled than ever before. This translates to the use of multivariate or vector time series models and algorithms in analyzing and understanding the relationships that these variables share with each other. Autocorrelation is one of the fundamental aspects of time series modeling. However, traditional linear models, that arise from a strong observed autocorrelation in many financial and econometric time series data, are at times unable to capture the rather nonlinear relationship that characterizes many time series data. This necessitates the study of nonlinear models in analyzing such time series. The class of bilinear models is one of the simplest nonlinear models. These models are able to capture temporary erratic fluctuations that are common in many financial returns series and thus, are of tremendous interest in financial time series analysis. Another aspect of time series analysis is homoscedasticity versus heteroscedasticity. Many time series data, even after differencing, exhibit heteroscedasticity. Thus, it becomes important to incorporate this feature in the associated models. The class of conditional heteroscedastic autoregressive (ARCH) models and its variants form the primary backbone of conditional heteroscedastic time series models. Robustness is a highly underrated feature of most time series applications and models that are presently in use in the industry. With an ever increasing amount of information available for modeling, it is not uncommon for the data to have some aberrations within itself in terms of level shifts and the occasional large fluctuations. Conventional methods like the maximum likelihood and least squares are well known to be highly sensitive to such contaminations. Hence, it becomes important to use robust methods, especially in this age with high amounts of computing power readily available, to take into account such aberrations. While robustness and time series modeling have been vastly researched individually in the past, application of robust methods to estimate time series models is still quite open. The central goal of this thesis is the study of robust parameter estimation of some simple vector and nonlinear time series models. More precisely, we will briefly study some prominent linear and nonlinear models in the time series literature and apply the robust S-estimator in estimating parameters of some simple models like the vector autoregressive (VAR) model, the (0, 0, 1, 1) bilinear model and a simple conditional heteroscedastic bilinear model. In each case, we will look at the important aspect of stationarity of the model and analyze the asymptotic behavior of the S-estimator.

EPFL2010