From September 19th through October 3rd, 2008, Congress debated the largest government bailout in America history—the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). Those sixteen days generated a vibrant conversation regarding the nature and severity of America’s economic crisis and the proper role of government in responding to such juggernauts. In this dissertation I explore the rhetoric generated by this bill and its context in hopes of illuminating the more general role of rhetoric in mitigating and exacerbating crises in capitalism. My hypothesis is that, in a global capitalist economy increasingly dependent on immaterial production (i.e., finance, the Internet, mass media, etc.), economic crisis rhetoric has become as essential to economic order as monetary and fiscal policy. To explore this claim, I focus on two key rhetorical tensions that drove much of the crisis rhetoric produced. The first of these battles is a rhetorical struggle over the spatial delineation between Wall Street and Main Street, while the second is a conflict between Keynesianism and neoliberalism in a rhetorical contest over the values of government interventionism. By analyzing a variety of policy and expert discourses that constitute the parameters of these discrete areas of debate, I argue that all rely on moral and ethical appeals to substantiate their meaning and validity. At the same time, I contend that these discourses are indebted to logics of institutional form and therefore cannot be abstracted from the financial and political contexts in which they reside. This insight leads me to forward a new theory of economic crisis rhetoric called the economic imaginary. By beginning with real economic events and then taking into account the discursive and extra-discursive forces that “overdetermine” its mediated understanding, the economic imaginary offers us a more empirical and cartographic account of how economic rhetoric actually operates in society. / text

The diploma thesis is focused on Location Based Services technology and its use in the field of citizen activism. The aim of thesis is to define field of citizen activism and its old and new form, moreover to describe how LBS work. In the practical part is presented multi-case study which analyses 5 examples of use LBS as a medium for new forms of civic activism (project Let's Do It 2008, project Uchaguzi, project ESRI Australian Flood Map, application Appapa and Occupy Wall Street movement). Thesis also contained conceptual draft of application, which uses LBS for fulfilment of activist goals. The possible ways of progress of LBS are described in the last part.

Le travail de thèse porte sur l’étude et la mise au point de nouvelles technologies et de procédés miniaturisés en lit fluidisé. Ce procédé représente une véritable rupture technologique devant les procédés à lits fluidisé traditionnels et offre de nombreux avantages : surface d’échange élevée, bon mélange gaz-solide dans le réacteur, utilisation de faible quantité de produit, coût faible... La présente étude regroupe trois études : conception des micro-lits fluidisés, diagnostic et analyse de l’hydrodynamique des couches fluidisées et modélisation numérique.Dans ce travail quatre MFBs (Micro Fluidized Bed) de 20-4 mm ont été étudiés et comparés à deux réacteurs relativement grands de 100-50 mm. Le rapport du diamètre du réacteur à la hauteur statique des particules (Hs/Dt) a été fixé entre 1-4. La vibration mécanique a été appliquée dans le réacteur de 4 mm. Une nouvelle méthode de diagnostic des régimes de fluidisation a été développée. Elle est basée sur les analyses des fluctuations de pression et le traitement du signal. La modélisation numérique suivant la méthode Eulérien-Eulérien (2D) a été développée. Les résultats obtenus permettent d’identifier six régimes d'écoulement: lit fixe, bouillonnant, bouillonnant/pistonnage, pistonnage, pistonnage/turbulent et bouillonnant/turbulent. On note une fluidisation partielle autour de Hs/Dt=1-2, tandis que le régime de pistonnage s’installe rapidement après le minimum de fluidisation à Hs/Dt=3-4. Dans le réacteur de 4 mm, la fluidisation des particules du groupe B de Geldart montre une meilleure qualité. Les résultats numériques (modélisation) montrent une très bonne concordance avec les données expérimentales / Micro-fluidized bed (MFB) exhibits great advantages such as a large specific contact surface, a fast dissipation of heat (ideal for exothermic reactions) and better mass and heat transfers, but suffers from difficulties in precise control and shows strong frictional wall effect. Present study was conducted experimentally and numerically to understand fundamental hydrodynamics in MFBs. Experimental work was carried out in four MFBs of 20-4 mm compared to two relatively large beds of 100-50 mm using three types of particles (B347: 347 μm, 2475 kg/m3; B105: 105 μm, 8102 kg/m3; A63: 63.8μm, 2437 kg/m3). The ratio of static bed height (Hs) to bed diameter (Dt) was set between 1-4. Mechanical vibration was applied to the 4 mm bed. A new method for flow regimes diagnosis was developed based on pressure fluctuation analyses, which mainly include calculating the standard deviation, autocorrelation function, probability density function, power spectral density function and time-frequency analysis. Numerical simulations were performed under Eulerian-Eulerian framework in 2D. Six flow regimes were identified: fixed bed, bubbling, bubbling/slugging, slugging, slugging/turbulent and bubbling/turbulent. Partial fluidization is encountered at Hs/Dt=1-2 while slugging prevails quickly after minimum fluidization at Hs/Dt=3-4. In the 4 mm bed, fluidization of B347 particles show better fluidization quality, while an increase in Umf is observed for B105 and A63 particles. Mechanical vibration reduces partial fluidization, thus resulting in larger ΔP and smaller Umf. A larger Umb and a delayed Uc were obtained as well. Results by simulations agree reasonably well with experimental data

本文所要探討的問題在於如何消弭銀行業中具有「大至不能倒」地位的銀行對整體經濟與金融體系所帶來的負面效應。 為了處理此一問題，本文將從比較法經驗進行歸納分析，理出「大至不能倒」理論在美國法上的面貌，並對「大至不能倒」銀行的界定提出比較法上採取的途徑，之後本文將進入檢閱現有的「大至不能倒」的解決方案，並以本文核心目標：『正視「大至不能倒」銀行的存在，並最小化「大至不能倒」政策適用的餘地！』來檢驗這些解決方案，緊接著本文將提出金融穩定委員會對於「大至不能倒」銀行的「資本強化」、「監理強化」與「復原與退場計畫」這三個監理方案供參酌，本文在結論上強力主張應將「復原與退場計畫」納入我國的法制架構中，為我國未來面對「大至不能倒」議題預做準備，並提出立法建議。 所謂「復原與退場計畫」(銀行事前預囑)是國際上處理「大至不能倒」問題所創造出全新的監理工具，簡介其內容，就是藉由事前周全的計畫使大型銀行在遭遇嚴重的壓力事件(尤其是系統性事件)時能藉由實施事前計劃快速地使財務狀況回復正常，或退而求其次藉由實施事前計畫使銀行能在不影響金融穩定或損及納稅人(即紓困政策)的狀況下退出金融市場。簡而言之其精神在於「卸除大型銀行的系統重要性」。