«La forme entière de l’humaine condition». Lectures humanistes de Montaigne

Following a brief review of several interpretations of Montaigne that have raised the issue of his possible humanism, this article examines three particularly relevant passages on the subject from his Essays: the quotation of the famous dictum «Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto», the statement that «Chaque homme porte la forme entiere de l’humaine condition» and, finally, the consideration that «il y a plus de distance de tel à tel homme qu’il n’y a de tel homme à telle beste». The analysis of these three passages highlights the problematic nature of Montaigne’s alleged humanism

Montaigne i la «filosofia cristiana» : anàlisi d'una pàgina del capítol «Des prières» dels Assaigs

L'aportació d'una dada fins ara desconeguda pot millorar la comprensió d'una pàgina decisiva del capítol «Des prières» dels Assaigs: Montaigne parteix en ella d'una declaració que l'humanista flamenc Justus Lipsius havia formulat en el prefaci de la segona edició del seu aclamat diàleg De constantia, per respondre a les crítiques rebudes per la natura profana del llibre. Els punts de vista adoptats per tots dos autors són, però, diferents. Mentre que Lipsius subratlla el caràcter cristià de la seva filosofia, Montaigne prefereix negar que la filosofia pugui ser útil a la religió i separar netament el domini de la raó i el de la fe.The discovery of a hitherto unknown fact can improve the understanding of a crucial page in the chapter «Des prières» of the Essays: Montaigne is based on a statement that the Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius had made in the preface of the second edition of his acclaimed dialogue De constantia, to respond to criticism by the secular nature of the book. The views adopted by both authors, however, are different. While Lipsius emphasizes the Christian character of his philosophy, Montaigne prefers to deny that philosophy can be useful to religion and to separate clearly the domains of reason and of faith

Chebyshev coefficients for L1-preduals and for spaces with the extension property

We apply the Chebyshev coefficients λf and λb, recently introduced by the authors, to obtain some results related to certain geometric properties of Banach spaces. We prove that a real normed space E is an L1 predual if and only if λf (E) = 1/2, and that if a (real or complex) normed space E is a P1 space, then λb(E) equals λb(K), where K is the ground field of E

Recognition and management of hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes

Over 1,900 colorectal tumors will arise in association with a hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome in Spain in 2009. The genetic defects responsible for the most common syndromes have been discovered in recent years. Genetic testing helps diagnose affected individuals and allows identification of individuals at-risk. Colonoscopy and prophylactic colectomy decrease colorectal cancer incidence and overall mortality in patients with hereditary colon cancer. Extracolonic tumors are frequent in these syndromes, so specific surveillance strategies should be offere

Confined swirling jets with large expansion ratios

This paper presents the extension of our previous investigation of confined round jets with large Reynolds numbers and large expansion ratios (Revuelta, Sanchez & Linan 2002a) to the case of swirling jets with swirl numbers of order unity. In the absence of vortex breakdown, we encounter the four-region asymptotic structure identified earlier for the non-swirling jet, including a region of jet development where the azimuthal and axial velocity components are comparable. For the flow in the long recirculating eddy that forms downstream, where the pressure differences associated with the azimuthal motion become negligible, the jet is found to act as a point source with momentum flux equal to the flow force of the incoming jet, and angular momentum flux equal to that of the jet at the orifice. The solution for the weak circulation in this slender region, including the parameter-free leading-order description and the first-order corrections, is determined by integrating the azimuthal component of the momentum equation written in the boundary-layer approximation. The results are validated through comparisons with numerical integrations of the steady axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations, which are also used to evaluate critical conditions for vortex breakdow

Laminar mixing in diluted and undiluted fuel jets upstream from lifted flames

The boundary-layer approximation is used to describe the frozen mixing process taking place when a fuel jet of radius a discharges into stagnant air. The results are applicable to the calculation of lifted flames stabilized in round laminar jets with relatively large Reynolds numbers, Re, for which the proposed formulation provides a detailed description for the velocity and composition fields encountered by the propagating triple flame formed at the base of the lifted flame. The problem is integrated for relevant values of the flow parameters, including values of the stoichiometric air-to-fuel mass ratio S of order unity, when the lifted flame is located in the region of jet development, corresponding to distances from the injector of order Re a. Further attention is given to the relevant case S ≫ 1, corresponding to typical conditions of undilute hydrocarbon-air flames, for which the resulting lifted flames are stabilized at relatively large distances from the injector, of order S Re a. It is seen that Schlichting asymptotic solution, which corresponds to a point source of momentum, is then applicable to describe the mixing process upstream from the lifted flame. Improved accuracy is sought by introducing expansions for the velocity components and for the reactant mass fractions in powers of S-1. The resulting development shows in particular that the first-order correction to the leading-order solution is equivalent to the introduction of a virtual origin for the axial coordinate. It is shown that the magnitude of the required translation, which is equal for the velocity and composition fields, must be determined from continuity considerations. As an illustrative example, the resulting description is used to calculate flame fronts with S ≫ 1 in the thermal-diffusive approximation

Confined axisymmetric laminar jets with large expansion ratios

This paper investigates the steady round laminar jet discharging into a coaxial duct when the jet Reynolds number, Re/sub j/, is large and the ratio of the jet radius to the duct radius, epsiv, is small. The analysis considers the distinguished double limit in which the Reynolds number Re/sub a/=Re/sub j/epsiv for the final downstream flow is of order unity, when four different regions can be identified in the flow field. Near the entrance, the outer confinement exerts a negligible influence on the incoming jet, which develops as a slender unconfined jet with constant momentum flux. The jet entrains outer fluid, inducing a slow backflow motion of the surrounding fluid near the backstep. Further downstream, the jet grows to fill the duct, exchanging momentum with the surrounding recirculating flow in a slender region where the Reynolds number is still of the order of Re/sub j/. The streamsurface bounding the toroidal vortex eventually intersects the outer wall, in a non-slender transition zone to the final downstream region of parallel streamlines. In the region of jet development, and also in the main region of recirculating flow, the boundary-layer approximation can be used to describe the flow, while the full Navier-Stokes equations are needed to describe the outer region surrounding the jet and the final transition region, with Re/sub a/=Re/sub j/epsiv entering as the relevant parameter to characterize the resulting non-slender flows

Pensamiento crítico para el Pensamiento gráfico

PASSMORE (1967) define el Pensamiento Crítico como un proceso que es a la vez reflexivo e imaginativo, cualidades imprescindibles en todo proceso de diseño. En este artículo nos centramos en la utilización del Pensamiento Crítico para mejorar lo que se ha dado en llamar Pensamiento Gráfico. El trabajo se divide en dos partes complementarias. En la primera, se formula un marco teórico en torno a los conceptos de Pensamiento Crítico y Pensamiento Gráfico, para proponer una metodología de enseñanza de la ingeniería que relacione ambos conceptos. En la segunda, se aplican dichos aspectos al estudio de una herramienta esencial dentro del proceso de diseño, el diagrama, y a la manera de proyectar en la contemporaneidad. - Critical thinking is defined by PASSMORE (1967) as a process that is both reflexive and imaginative, essencial aspects of the design process. This paper focuses on the use of Critical Thinking to improve what we call Graphic Thinking. The content is two fold. The first part establishes a theoretical framework around the concepts of Critical Thinking and Graphic Thinking, in order to propose a methodology for engineering education through the combination of both concepts. The second one deals with those concepts, which are applied to one of the basic tools within the design process, the diagram, analysing through it the contemporary way of designing