Rationalité, relativisme, évolution sociale: une analyse critique du modèle cognitiviste de Boudon-Weber

This essay mainly concerns the foundation of a method of inquiry appropriate to the study of social reality. It starts from a criticism of Boudon-Weber's cognitivist method, the lacks of which seem particularly qualified for underlining the methodologic difficulties afflicting social thought. These lacks helps us to point out the reason and potentialities of our proposal on method that may be denominated 'social objectivism'. This proposal suggests additional objections both to Weber's cultural relativism and Boudon's anti-relativism, as well as to the notion of rationality and the theory of social evolution developed by those authors. A different notion of rationality is proposed and an alternative explanation of social process, referable both to the evolution and organization of human societies, is sketched out that may also be extended to the interpretation of historical processes

Early transitions and tertiary enrolment: The cumulative impact of primary and secondary effects on entering university in Germany

Our aim is to assess how the number of working class students entering German universities can effectively be increased. Therefore, we estimate the proportion of students from the working class that would successfully enter university if certain policy interventions were in place to eliminate primary effects (performance differentials between social classes) and/or secondary effects (choice differentials net of performance) at different transition points. We extend previous research by analysing the sequence of transitions between elementary school enrolment and university enrolment and by accounting for the impact that manipulations at earlier transitions have on the performance distribution and size of the student ‘risk-set’ at subsequent transitions. To this end, we develop a novel simulation procedure which also seeks to find viable solutions to the shortcomings in the German data landscape. Our findings show that interventions are most effective if they take place early in the educational career. Neutralizing secondary effects at the transition to upper secondary school proves to be the single most effective means to increase participation rates in tertiary education among working class students. However, this comes at the expense of lower average performance levels. (DIPF/author

Does the Feeding Behaviour of Dairy Cows Differ When Fed Ryegrass Indoors vs. Grazing?

Dairy cows eating ryegrass ingest smaller boli when grazing than when fed indoors (93 vs. 142 g; Boudon et al., 2004). To investigate whether this difference in bolus affects feeding behaviour of the cows, an automated system (chewing halters) was used to monitor feeding behaviour of cows given ad libitum access to perennial ryegrass in individual feed troughs (indoor feeding, IF) or at pasture (grazing, GR)

Repetition and difference: Lefebvre, Le Corbusier and modernity's (im)moral landscape: a commentary

This article engages with the relationship between social theory, architectural theory and material culture. The article is a reply to an article in a previous volume of the journal in question (Smith, M. (2001) ‘Repetition and difference: Lefebvre, Le Corbusier and modernity’s (im)moral landscape’, Ethics, Place and Environment, 4(1), 31-34) and, consequently, is also a direct engagement with another academic's scholarship. It represents a critique of their work as well as a recasting of their ideas, arguing that the matter in question went beyond interpretative issues to a direct critique of another author's scholarship on both Le Corbusier and Lefebvre. A reply to my article from the author of the original article was carried in a later issue of the journal (Smith, M. (2002) ‘Ethical Difference(s): a Response to Maycroft on Le Corbusier and Lefebvre’, Ethics, Place and Environment, 5(3), 260-269)

Mapping spectroscopic uncertainties into prospective methane retrieval errors from Sentine-5 and its precursor

Sentinel-5 (S5) and its precursor (S5P) are future European satellite missions aiming at global monitoring of methane (CH4) column average dry air mole fractions (XCH4). The spectrometers to be deployed on-board the satellites record spectra of sunlight backscattered from the Earth\u27s surface and atmosphere. In particular, they exploit CH4 absorption in the shortwave infrared spectral range around 1.65 µm (S5 only) and 2.35 µm (both, S5 and S5P) wavelength. Given an accuracy goal of better than 2% for XCH4 to be delivered on regional scales, assessment and reduction of potential sources of systematic error such as spectroscopic uncertainties is crucial. Here, we investigate how spectroscopic errors propagate into retrieval errors on the global scale. To this end, absorption spectra of a ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) operating at very high spectral resolution serve as estimate for the quality of the spectroscopic parameters. Feeding the FTS fitting residuals as a perturbation into a global ensemble of simulated S5 and S5P-like spectra at relatively low spectral resolution, XCH4 retrieval errors exceed 1% in large parts of the world and show systematic correlations on regional scales, calling for improved spectroscopic parameters

Detección y profilaxis del fitoplasma del amarilleamiento del olmo en Francia

Surveys conducted since 1998, showed that symptoms typical of Elm Yellows (EY) were quite frequent in the elm conservatories of Nogent-sur-Vernisson and Guémené- Penfao, France, and on forest trees in several locations in western Europe. Phytoplasmas were detected in symptomatic trees and plants using Polymerase Chain Reaction amplification followed by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analyses of conserved regions of 16S rDNA of phytoplasmas, or of the EY group-specific non ribosomal DNA fragment FD9. Potential vectors were searched among leafhoppers and planthoppers trapped in conservatories and tested for the presence of phytoplasma in their body. Sanitation of multiplication material was experimented using soaking of dormant cuttings and branches in hot water, according to the method devised for destruction of phytoplasma in grapevine multiplication material. Phytoplasmas detected in a number of the elm clones held in the conservatories and in several forest or hedgerow elm trees, showed some diversity, according to restriction analyses of the FD9 fragment. Both American and European types were characterized. Four leaf- and planthopper species were found to carry an EY phytoplasma. Plants grown from cuttings taken from EY-infected clones and soaked in hot water (50 °C, 45 mn) never developed symptoms and tested phytoplasma negative. Most of untreated control plants were all symptomatic and positive. In the future, EY phytoplasma should be carefully checked, especially in sensitive cultivars. More studies of EY phytoplasma variability and potential vecteurs and the assessment of routine use of hot water therapy in multiplication of material should be conducted.Las observaciones realizadas desde 1998 han mostrado que los síntomas típicos del amarilleamiento del olmo (EY) son muy frecuentes en los bancos de olmo de Nogent- sur-Vernisson y Guémené-Penfao, Francia, y en árboles en campo de varias localidades de Europa occidental. La presencia de fitoplasmas se detectó, mediante el uso de la reacción en cadena de la polimerasa seguida de análisis de polimorfismo de longitud de los fragmentos de restricción en regiones conservadas de rADN de16S de fitoplasmas, o del fragmento FD9 de ADN no ribosómico, específico del fitoplasma del EY, en árboles y plantas sintomáticos. Se buscó vectores potenciales entre homópteros cicadélidos y fulgóridos capturados en los invernáculos y estudiados con el fin de detectar la presencia de fitoplasmas en su cuerpo. Como tratamiento profiláctico del material reproductivo, se experimentó sumergiendo las estaquillas y ramas durmientes en agua caliente, de acuerdo con el método desarrollado para la destrucción de fitoplasmas en material de reproducción de la vid. Según el análisis de restricción del fragmento FD9, los fitoplasmas que fueron detectados en algunos clones de olmo conservados en los bancos clonales, así como en varios olmos de campo, mostraron una cierta diversidad genética. Tanto el tipo americano como el europeo fueron caracterizados. Se encontró que cuatro de las especies de cicadélidos y fulgóridos eran portadoras del fitoplasma del EY. Las plantas que se desarrollaron a partir de estaquillas de clones infectados por el EY y que habían sido sumergidas en agua caliente (50 ºC, 45 minutos) nunca presentaron síntomas. Igualmente, las pruebas para la detección del fitoplasma fueron negativas. Por el contrario, todas las plantas control que no habían sido tratadas presentaron síntomas, y los resultados de las pruebas fueron positivos. En el futuro, la presencia del fitoplasma del EY deberías ser comprobada sistemáticamente, especialmente en cultivares sensibles. Deberían desarrollarse más estudios sobre la variabilidad del fitoplasma del EY y vectores potenciales, y sobre la evaluación del uso continuo del tratamiento con agua caliente en la multiplicación del material

Phase change-related variations of dome shape in Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis shoot apical meristems

International audienceShoot apical meristem (SAM) domes derived from five different outdoor and in vitro sources of juvenile and mature Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis akin genotypes were compared. Overall measurements of SAM dome height H and diameter D ranged from 2 to 35 µm and 20 to 80 µm, notwithstanding significant differences according to the various physiological origins of plant material investigated. SAM domes from the mature trees ?Mat? were taller than those from the rejuvenated ministock plants ?Rej?; from the in vitro microcuttings ?IVM? of the same clone, and also from the in vitro juvenile seedlings ?IVJ?, whereas outdoor seedlings ?Juv? SAM domes exhibited intermediate height. SAM domes from the rejuvenated material ?Rej?, from the in vitro mature ?IVM? and juvenile ?IVJ? origins were also narrower than those from the outdoor seedlings ?Juv? and to lesser extent than those from the mature trees ?Mat?. Overall the mature source ?Mat? displayed bigger and somehow sharper hemispherical domes than those from ?Rej? and ?Juv?, physiologically more juvenile, or those from the in vitro origins ?IVM ? and ?IVJ? which looked flatter and smaller. SAM dome height, diameter D and H/D values varied also significantly according to shoot apex status. More specifically, H, D and H/D SAM differences between the five origins were not significant when SAM were in their more organogenic stage, to become more salient as leaf structures started to elongate and to differentiate. This was particularly obvious for mature tree ?Mat? SAM dome shapes which showed at this stage much higher H/D values than the other SAM sources. Additionally, a shape index S used for characterizing more accurately dome shape confirmed these trends. These observations provide additional arguments to the view that juvenility in trees become more and more time and space restricted as ageing increases in the course of time during the ontogenetical process, to be ultimately confined to the more organogenic phases of SAM, from which shoot characteristics derive