Cette thèse analyse les enjeux du développement économique liés aux dynamiques des cours des matières premières en général et ceux du coton en particulier. Traditionnellement, les travaux s’inscrivant dans une optique de long terme questionnent la pertinence des spécialisations primaires des PMA. À moyen terme l’intérêt porte davantage sur l’instabilité dont les conséquences sont d’autant plus importantes que la dépendance des pays à l’exportation de tels produits est forte. Les enjeux s’articulent alors autour des modalités de régulation des marchés, du choix d'outils (publics ou marchands) pour la gestion des incertitudes, le tout dépendant de l’appréhension de l’instabilité comme un phénomène endogène ou exogène. Dans un contexte nouveau marqué par l’affirmation d’oligopoles de firmes, la segmentation du processus productif mondial, et la financiarisation des marchés de matières premières, nous proposons un cadre analytique permettant d’aborder différemment ces problématiques. Nos travaux montrent d’abord comment les approches du type chaînes globales de valeur peuvent être mobilisées pour mieux orienter les stratégies commerciales / industrielles des PMA. S’appuyant sur la notion de rationalité limitée dans le cadre de modèles de comportements hétérogènes, ils prouvent ensuite l’existence d’une forte composante endogène dans l’instabilité et par là même, l'inefficacité des seuls outils marchands. Au final, pour les pays africains producteurs de coton, il apparait qu’il reste possible de mettre ce produit au service d’une stratégie globale de développement. Cela passe par le recours à des mécanismes hybrides de gestion de l’instabilité, combiné au renforcement des dynamiques de coopération transfrontalières en vue d’une structuration de chaînes régionales de valeur. / This thesis analyzes the economic development issues related to the medium and long-term dynamics of commodities prices in general and cotton prices in particular. Studies on the long-term perspective traditionally question the relevance of primary specializations of LDCs. In the medium term, the interest is relates to price instability for which the consequences are all the more important as countries’ dependency on the exports of such products becomes stronger. The stakes then revolve around market regulation modalities, and the choice of risk management tools (e.g. public or private interventions). These depend on the apprehension of price fluctuations as a phenomenon arising from endogenous or exogenous market factors. In a new economical context influenced by the growing importance of oligopolistic firms, a segmentation of the productive process and the financialization of commodity markets, we address differently these issues through a new analytical framework. The proposed analysis first shows how approaches such as the ones related to global value chains are more adapted to tackle industrial/commercial policies in commodity dependent LDCs. Second, in a context of heterogeneous behavioral models, we rely on the concept of bounded rationality to show the presence of a strong endogenous component in instability. Thus, it proves the inefficiency of private interventions to counter instability. Considering these findings in the case of African cotton producers, we conclude that it remains possible to incorporate the commodity in a global development strategy. But this involves the use of hybrid-type mechanisms (public-private) for managing uncertainty, combined with a reinforcement of cross-border cooperation dynamics in order to structure regional value chains.

The study sets to establish trends with regard to the role of the praise singer, the changes with regard to the traditional praise singer's rendition/performance and the material or content of his/her poetry. Thus the study highlights the distinction observed between the praise singer of the past and the present praise singer. The study also shows that the praise singer's performance, in terms of his/her role and content, is in the state of flux. The study also demonstrates that the singer of the past and the present praise singer have the same role and their chants or poetry or songs have the same effect. It also highlights situations where praises are chanted in modern times. These are graduation ceremonies, weddings, political gatherings and traditional ceremonies, for example, the annual rain making ceremonies. These events or occasions are inextricably linked to traditional praises. The study also highlights the fact that traditional praises present the history and heroic deeds of members of the clan to which the beneficiary belongs. They also express the deep feeling of royalty and loyalty. Like in the past they boost morale. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wendell Gomes Schmiedecke.pdf: 619717 bytes, checksum: 94fc273bce9584548d12e9f9ba12f34e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-28 / The objective of this work is to answer the following question: How we can explain the recent rise in the commodities prices, due to the entry of China in the international market and which are the tendencies for the next years? For this, the work initially will present the deterioration in terms of trade from Prebisch and Singer, with an evolution of this thought, as well as criticism of this thesys. Afterwards we will present the Chinese economy, as well his impact in the demand of raw-materials and food and in the production capacity of industrialized products, presenting impacts over the terms of trade in the worldwide scenario, after that, we will use the Enzo Grilli and Maw Cheng Yang series updated, to show the prices behavior of the main commodities, with a special focus in the high occurred in this prices in the period comprehended between the Chinese market overture to the worldwide economy until 2007, fact contrary to the Prebisch and Singer thesis. At least we will conclude the work answering the question object of this work / O objetivo deste trabalho é responder a seguinte questão: Como podemos explicar a alta recente do preço dos commodities, face a entrada da China no mercado internacional e quais as tendências para os próximos anos? Para isso, o trabalho inicialmente apresentará a tese de deterioração dos termos de troca de Prebisch e Singer, com uma evolução desse pensamento, bem como críticas a estas teses. Posteriormente apresentaremos a economia chinesa, bem como seu impacto sobre a demanda de matérias-primas e alimentos e na capacidade de produção de produtos industrializados, apresentando impactos sobre os termos de troca no cenário mundial, em seguida, utilizaremos a série de preços formulada por Enzo Grilli e Maw Cheng Yang, que mostra uma evolução de preços dos principais commodities ao longo do tempo, focando na alta ocorrida nos preços de produtos primários no período compreendido entre a abertura do mercado chinês a economia mundial até 2007, fato este que contrária a tese de Prebisch e Singer. Por último teremos a conclusão que responderá a questão objeto deste trabalho

This doctoral thesis is about female rock musicians who are involved in two Swedish non-profit feminist music associations; Rockrebeller, which is situated in Uppsala and She´s Got the Beat in Umeå. The aim of the study is to analyze how the informants describe their lives as rock musicians and as active participants in these feminist music associations. The main issues are musicianship, identity, feminism and gender. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with ten informants – five from Umeå and five from Uppsala – and these interviews are complemented by a number of participatory observations. The focus of thesis is on the informants’ self-presentations: their stories and experiences. One central theme is the ways that the informants’ different identities are interlaced and closely knit together in different ways: as feminists, as musicians and as active participants in the associations. Two major themes in my thesis are music and politics and they can be regarded as two sides of the same coin; in order to make it easier for women to play rock music they have become involved in the associations, and this relationship is regarded as a form of political work. The informants have been influenced by punk and Riot Grrrls Movement – a feminist movement that is associated with punk bands and fanzines is sometimes seen as representative of a "third wave feminism". All the informants are members of rock bands, but many are also engaged in other projects, for instance in the role of a singer-songwriter, and these different identities as musicians are often seen as complementary to each other. Rock bands are generally considered to be fascinating but insecure experiences because bands tend to split up with time. Those who are also active musicians outside of the band (most often guitarists) usually regard their own individual identity as musicians as the most important thing; a safe harbor that is always there. Their ideological beliefs are for instance visible in a common vision of the ideal rock band as democratic, anti-hierarchic and where an equality of opportunity exists. Rock music is in some ways used as an expression for an alternative way of life, of rebellion, and is seen as politically subversive. One of the ambivalences of the source material is the kind of identity politics that the associations represent and whose purpose is to improve the gender equality in the field. There is a well-known dilemma involved in this practice; how is it possible to navigate from a marginalized, subordinated position, without using the method of categorizing that may increase the probability of reproducing their own marginalization? Their life as rock musicians is described as enjoyable rewarding, and as a means of expressing their cultural belonging and ideological beliefs, such as feminism. However, the overall picture highlights the pleasures of creating and making music, which serves as an explanation why they strive to make rock music more accessible for women. The descriptions of being in a band and performing on stage are varied and on the whole complex. The group dynamics of the band are portrayed as very meaningful but also trying at times, and playing in front of an audience is described as everything between ecstasy and a nerve-wrecking experience. However, there is an overall adaptation to the norms surrounding rock music; a sense that one has to adjust oneself in order to function as a rock musician. The informants´ statements generally emphasize gender, but from time to time they identify themselves with other male amateur rock musicians.

This dissertation is concerned with the problem of describing the singing voice within the audio signal of a song. This work is motivated by the fact that the lead vocal is the element that attracts the attention of most listeners. For this reason it is common for music listeners to organize and browse music collections using information related to the singing voice such as the singer name. Our research concentrates on the three major problems of music information retrieval: the localization of the source to be described (i.e. the recognition of the elements corresponding to the singing voice in the signal of a mixture of instruments), the search of pertinent features to describe the singing voice, and finally the development of pattern recognition methods based on these features to identify the singer. For this purpose we propose a set of novel features computed on the temporal variations of the fundamental frequency of the sung melody. These features, which aim to describe the vibrato and the portamento, are obtained with the aid of a dedicated model. In practice, these features are computed on the time-varying frequency of partials obtained using the sinusoidal model. In the first experiment we show that partials corresponding to the singing voice can be accurately differentiated from the partials produced by other instruments using decisions based on the parameters of the vibrato and the portamento. Once the partials emitted by the singer are identified, the segments of the song containing singing can be directly localized. To improve the recognition of the partials emitted by the singer we propose to group partials that are related harmonically. Partials are clustered according to their degree of similarity. This similarity is computed using a set of CASA cues including their temporal frequency variations (i.e. the vibrato and the portamento). The clusters of harmonically related partials corresponding to the singing voice are identified using the vocal vibrato and the portamento parameters. Groups of vocal partials can then be re-synthesized to isolate the voice. The result of the partial grouping can also be used to transcribe the sung melody. We then propose to go further with these features and study if the vibrato and portamento characteristics can be considered as a part of the singers' signature. Previous works on singer identification describe audio signals using features extracted on the short-term amplitude spectrum. The latter features aim to characterize the timbre of the sound, which, in the case of singing, is related to the vocal tract of the singer. The features we develop in this document capture long-term information related to the intonation of the singer, which is relevant to the style and the technique of the singer. We propose a method to combine these two complementary descriptions of the singing voice to increase the recognition rate of singer identification. In addition we evaluate the robustness of each type of feature against a set of variations. We show the singing voice is a highly variable instrument. To obtain a representative model of a singer's voice it is thus necessary to build models using a large set of examples covering the full tessitura of a singer. In addition, we show that features extracted directly from the partials are more robust to the presence of an instrumental accompaniment than features derived from the amplitude spectrum.

The study sets to establish trends with regard to the role of the praise singer, the changes with regard to the traditional praise singer's rendition/performance and the material or content of his/her poetry. Thus the study highlights the distinction observed between the praise singer of the past and the present praise singer. The study also shows that the praise singer's performance, in terms of his/her role and content, is in the state of flux. The study also demonstrates that the singer of the past and the present praise singer have the same role and their chants or poetry or songs have the same effect. It also highlights situations where praises are chanted in modern times. These are graduation ceremonies, weddings, political gatherings and traditional ceremonies, for example, the annual rain making ceremonies. These events or occasions are inextricably linked to traditional praises. The study also highlights the fact that traditional praises present the history and heroic deeds of members of the clan to which the beneficiary belongs. They also express the deep feeling of royalty and loyalty. Like in the past they boost morale. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Dans un contexte où la reconnaissance de droits légaux à certaines entités non humaines apparaît comme une évolution juridique de plus en plus plausible, ce mémoire se veut une exploration de la littérature philosophique et juridique en faveur de l’octroi de la personnalité juridique aux animaux. Tout d’abord, nous offrirons un bref tour d’horizon historique de la notion de personne et pourrons constater que si celle-ci a fortement été associée à l’autonomie morale dans l’histoire du droit et de la philosophie, cette définition de la personnalité souffre d’importantes incohérences lorsque vient le temps de justifier l’extension de la personnalité aux êtres humains dépourvus de cette autonomie morale. C’est le cas, par exemple, des enfants, des êtres humains plongés dans le coma, des handicapés mentaux ou encore de certaines personnes âgées. Nous pourrons également constater que le geste qui consiste à octroyer des droits légaux à ces individus tout en refusant de reconnaître ces mêmes droits aux animaux repose sur des bases théoriques fragiles qu’il convient de revoir l’aide d’une analyse approfondie des théories des droits des animaux proposées depuis les années 1970. Ces théories, et plus particulièrement celles proposées par Peter Singer, Tom Regan et Gary Francione, feront l’objet d’un examen qui permettra de faire ressortir leurs forces et faiblesses respectives. Enfin, dans le dernier chapitre de ce mémoire, nous nous pencherons sur le rôle que peuvent jouer les appels aux droits moraux dans l’attribution de droits légaux. Nous y brosserons aussi une esquisse des différentes formes de personnalité juridique et de statut politique que pourraient se voir octroyer les animaux non humains. / In a context where the recognition of legal rights to certain nonhuman entities appears to be an increasingly plausible legal development, this master’s thesis proposes an exploration of the philosophical and legal literature in favor of granting legal personhood to animals. First, I will provide a brief historical overview of the notion of “person.” I will also note that, while it has been strongly associated with moral autonomy in the history of law and philosophy, this definition of personhood suffers from substantial inconsistencies in justifying the granting of legal personhood to non-autonomous human beings. It is the case, for instance, of children, comatose human beings, the mentally disabled, and the elderly. We will also see that granting legal rights to these individuals while refusing to recognize these same rights to nonhuman animals is based on fragile theoretical foundations that need to be rectified with a thorough analysis of the theories of animal rights proposed since the 1970s. These theories, specifically the ones put forward by Peter Singer, Tom Regan, and Gary Francione, will be examined to identify their respective strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the final chapter of this research will examine the decisive role that appeals to moral rights can play in granting legal rights to animals. It also outlines the various forms of legal personhood and political status that might be attributed to nonhuman animals.

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Monitoring is hugely important for musicians in any type of live situation for them to provide a good musical performance, and In-ear Monitoring (IEM) is increasingly popular among both musicians and audio engineers. Despite this, there has been little research on the topic and musicians and audio engineers would benefit from knowing more about the system, to utilize it in the best way possible. Because of the potentially added issues with structure borne sound, the study has chosen to focus on vocalists that use IEM. Through interviews with both Less experienced IEM users and Experienced IEM users, this study aims to find out what issues IEM users experience in live situations. Other than perceived issues, the study investigates how issues evolve with increased experience, comparing the two user groups, what solutions can be found and how an IEM mix should be for a vocalist. Through a Thematic analysis, the study reaches the conclusion that the main issue with the IEM system for vocalists is isolation from the surrounding world, and that the isolation leads to other perceived issues such as worsening the live feeling and obstructing contact with the audience. The study also concludes that there is a clear connection between monitoring and musical performance with poor monitoring leading to worse performance. The main solution observed is habit with the system, good communication between the audio engineers and musicians and an understanding for both sides workflow to increase efficiency in mixing. With this knowledge, further research can be made to increase the understanding for musicians and audio engineers respectively, and audio engineers and musicians can already focus on increasing cooperation.

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