State-building, war and violence : evidence from Latin America

In European history, war has played a major role in state‐building and the state monopoly on violence. But war is a very specific form of organized political violence, and it is decreasing on a global scale. Other patterns of armed violence now dominate, ones that seem to undermine state‐building, thus preventing the replication of European experiences. As a consequence, the main focus of the current state‐building debate is on fragility and a lack of violence control inside these states. Evidence from Latin American history shows that the specific patterns of the termination of both war and violence are more important than the specific patterns of their organization. Hence these patterns can be conceptualized as a critical juncture for state‐building. While military victories in war, the subordination of competing armed actors and the prosecution of perpetrators are conducive for state‐building, negotiated settlements, coexistence, and impunity produce instability due to competing patterns of authority, legitimacy, and social cohesion

Non-destructive testing of works of art by stimulated by infrared thermography: PPT interest

Short abstract Within the framework of the cultural heritage conservation, stimulated infrared thermography has already demonstrated its efficiency. However, sometimes, the different colors of the paint layer can lead to artifacts of detection. In this work, we show theoretically and experimentally that the combination of a PPT analysis and of the stimulated infrared thermography allows a significant reduction of this disturbing optical effect

Rear-Face Photothermal Analysis Under Random Excitation and Parametric Analysis: Application to Thermal-Diffusivity Measurement

International audienceThe aim of this article is to approach thermal-diffusivity measurement possibilities, under low energy constraints, offered by a rear-face random photothermal analysis. A theoretical study demonstrates first the method’s feasibility. It shows then that the random method allows a good estimation of thermal diffusivity with a low temperature rise in the studied sample. This constitutes an advantage for the thermophysical characterization of fragile materials (artworks, biological samples). A study, experimental, carried out around the thermophysical characterization of a glass sample validates the possibilities of the random photothermal method for thermal-diffusivity measurements

Defect detection in mural painting by random infrared thermography associated with singular value decomposition and higher orders statistics

International audienc

Stimulated infrared thermography applied to the local thermal characterization of fresco

Abstract In this work, we present a new method for estimating the local thermal diffusivity of fresco. This method uses a temporal analysis of the thermal response of a work of art submitted to a local laser excitation. First, we present the principle of the estimation method. Then, we show theoretically with the help of numerical simulations, the feasibility of the method. Finally, we show experimentally, that the method allows a good estimation of the thermal diffusivity of an academic plaster sample and of an academic fresco