Liberalism's dangerous religions:Enlightenment legacies in political theory

My thesis provides a conceptual-historical analysis of the dynamic between religious critique and the framing of Jews and Muslims in Enlightenment thought, and it examines the contributions of contemporary liberal philosophers debating religious freedom in the light of that conceptual history. In the first part of the book I show that the development a modern category of ‘religion’ went hand in hand with the development of ideas on what were religion’s dangerous characteristics. These ideas were flexibly put to use in the construction of religious hierarchies and the problematization and early forms of securitization of specific groups of believers. An expansive tracing of how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam figure in the work of Enlightenment scholars also sheds light on the way the category of ‘religion’ has played a role in the demarcation of European civilization. In the second part I discuss the ways in which these genealogies can and should inform contemporary political philosophers working on normative questions about religion’s place within the liberal state. Philosophers reflecting on the concept of religion often focus on one aspect of the concept’s construal, namely its Christian – or more specifically Protestant – foundations. A more politically and historically sensitive approach, however, means also reflecting on the development of ideas about problematic and dangerous forms of religiosity. What is needed, I argue, is a stronger engagement with the securitization and surveillance of religion and the diverse ways in which religion and religious difference can become politicized. Political theory should thus not only question how religion is defined, but also what it does in the framing and governance of social conflicts – e.g. those about immigration and integration – and how it interacts with other categories such as nationality, ethnicity, race, and civilization

Nonequilibrium master kinetic equation modelling of colloidal gelation

We present a detailed study of the kinetic cluster growth process during gelation of weakly attractive colloidal particles by means of experiments on critical Casimir attractive colloidal systems, simulations and analytical theory. In the experiments and simulations, we follow the mean coordination number of the particles during the growth of clusters to identify an attractive-strength independent cluster evolution as a function of mean coordination number. We relate this cluster evolution to the kinetic attachment and detachment rates of particles and particle clusters. We find that single-particle detachment dominates in the relevant weak attractive-strength regime, while association rates are almost independent of the cluster size. Using the limit of single-particle dissociation and size-independent association rates, we solve the master kinetic equation of cluster growth analytically to predict power-law cluster mass distributions with exponents $-3/2$ and $-5/2$ before and after gelation, respectively, which are consistent with the experimental and simulation data. These results suggest that the observed critical Casimir-induced gelation is a second-order nonequilibrium phase transition (with broken detailed balance). Consistent with this scenario, the size of the largest cluster is observed to diverge with power-law exponent according to three-dimensional percolation upon approaching the critical mean coordination number

Self-Assembly in Monoelaidin Aqueous Dispersions: Direct Vesicles to Cubosomes Transition

Background: In the present study, synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and Cryo-TEM were used to characterize the temperature-induced structural transitions of monoelaidin (ME) aqueous dispersion in the presence of the polymeric stabilizer F127. We prove that the direct transition from vesicles to cubosomes by heating this dispersion is possible. The obtained results were compared with the fully hydrated bulk ME phase. Methodology/principal findings: Our results indicate the formation of ME dispersion, which is less stable than that based on the congener monoolein (MO). In addition, the temperature-dependence behavior significantly differs from the fully hydrated bulk phase. SAXS findings indicate a direct L(alpha)-V(2) internal transition in the dispersion. While the transition temperature is conserved in the dispersion, the formed cubosomes with internal Im3m symmetry clearly contain more water and this ordered interior is retained over a wider temperature range as compared to its fully hydrated bulk system. At 25 degrees C, Cryo-TEM observations reveal the formation of most likely closely packed onion-like vesicles. Above the lamellar to non-lamellar phase transition at 65 degrees C, flattened cubosomes with an internal nanostructure are observed. However, they have only arbitrary shapes and thus, their morphology is significantly different from that of the well-shaped analogous MO cubosome and hexosome particles. Conclusions/significance: Our study reveals a direct liposomes-cubosomes transition in ME dispersion. The obtained results suggest that the polymeric stabilizer F127 especially plays a significant role in the membrane fusion processes. F127 incorporates in considerable amount into the internal nanostructure and leads to the formation of a highly swollen Im3m phase

Microstructure, rheology and demixing in emulsions flocculated by polysaccharides

keywords: Emulsion, b-lactoglobulin, polysaccharides, salt, sucrose, depletion, bridging, percolation, microstructure, micro-rheology, rheology, demixing, creaming, network compression. Abstract In this thesis, a study is presented on gravity-induced demixing behaviour of oil-in-water emulsions, stabilised by b-lactoglobulin and flocculated by various polysaccharides. Flocculation by polysaccharides mainly results in formation of emulsion droplet networks and can proceed via depletion and via bridging. Structural and rheological properties of these different networks were investigated and compared on a micro-and macroscopic level. These properties were related to the demixing behaviour of the emulsions. For emulsion droplet networks, gravity-induced compression of the network leads to separation of a serum layer. For depletion-induced networks, the initial rate of demixing by network compression is usually low and at high polysaccharide concentrations, usually a delay-time is observed before substantial demixing occurs. This delay-time scales with the permeability of the network, the viscosity and the density difference between oil and water. Once demixing has started, the network quickly collapses until the emulsion droplets are packed rather closely together. In bridging-flocculated emulsions, the initial demixing rate is higher, but more water was retained at longer times. The effects of protein, sugar and salts on demixing of depletion-flocculated networks were investigated as well. Protein affected the rate of flocculation and counteracted network formation. Sucrose affected the demixing rate via the viscosity and density of the aqueous phase, but it did not affect the droplet-droplet interactions. Salt affected the electrostatic droplet-droplet interactions. As a result, depletion-flocculation by dextran was inhibited at low salt concentrations. Addition of Ca2+ ions led to a decrease in repulsion between the protein layers, resulting in stronger droplet-droplet bonds, reinforcing a droplet network and retarding network compression