3,007 research outputs found
Empowering development: capabilities and Latin American critical traditions
This thesis theoretically and critically examines the move towards people-centred approaches to development. It offers a critical examination of the work of Amartya Sen using theoretical resources emerging from Latin American traditions.
Amartya Senâs calls to understand Development as Freedom (1999) have significantly influenced mainstream development thinking and practice, constituting the clearest example of people-centred approaches to development today. Overcoming the limitations of previous state-centred notions of development articulated around ideas of economic growth, in Senâs Capability Approach (CA) development is seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. In this understanding, the agency of development shifts from the state to individuals and the analytic focus moves from economic growth to individual capabilities. In this manner, this framework is structured towards the central goal of empowerment, wherein the expansion of capabilities is seen both as the means and end of development. Since its inception, the widespread support for the CA has allowed for the expansion of ethical considerations within mainstream
development thinking.
Even while the remarkable advances offered by Senâs work should be praised, this thesis argues that these have come with new limitations. These limitations stem from, what is termed here, a âParadox of Empowermentâ that effectively encloses Senâs approach within Western notions of development. While Senâs approach is poised to provide a theoretical framework that is built on the expansion of freedom and individual agency, there is little agency here to move beyond the ideas of development fundamentally linked to liberal democracies and market economies. This thesis engages with several critical traditions from Latin America, recovering their often undervalued insights for development thinking. Crucially, this engagement provides the critical framework to illustrate the aforementioned paradox and explore multiple dimensions of empowerment central for contemporary development thinking and practice. In this, the thesis engages Senâs work with the Liberation Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez, with Paulo Freireâs Critical Pedagogy and with the contemporary discussions of âBuen Vivirâ associated with Indigenous philosophies of the Andean region. Throughout its chapters,it uncovers the conceptual baggage within the Paradox of Empowerment in Senâs work and examines the ethical challenges and boundaries of this approach in relation to the collective dimension of development processes, the possibilities for structural transformation and concerns for sustainability. Progressively engaging the different dimensions of this paradox, this thesis advances the recovery of the transformative potential of the ideas of empowerment for development
Electron and Phonon Temperature Relaxation in Semiconductors Excited by Thermal Pulse
Electron and phonon transient temperatures are analyzed in the case of
nondegenerate semiconductors. An analytical solution is obtained for
rectangular laser pulse absorption. It is shown that thermal diffusion is the
main energy relaxation mechanism in the phonon subsystem. The mechanism depends
on the correlation between the sample length and the electron cooling length in
an electron subsystem. Energy relaxation occurs by means of the electron
thermal diffusion in thin samples (), and by means of the electron-phonon
energy interaction in thick samples (). Characteristic relaxation times are
obtained for all the cases, and analysis of these times is made. Electron and
phonon temperature distributions in short and long samples are qualitatively
and quantitatively analyzed for different correlations between the laser pulse
duration and characteristic times.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figure
The G2 checkpoint activated by DNA damage does not prevent genome instability in plant cells
Root growth, G2 length, and the frequency of aberrant mitoses and apoptotic nuclei were recorded after a single X-ray irradiation, ranging from 2.5 to 40 Gy, in Allium cepa L. root meristematic cells. After 72 h of recovery, root growth was reduced in a dose-dependent manner from 10 to 40 Gy, but not at 2.5 or 5 Gy doses. Flow cytometry plus TUNEL (TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling) showed that activation of apoptosis occurred only after 20 and 40 Gy of X-rays. Nevertheless, irrespective of the radiation dose, conventional flow cytometry showed that cells accumulated in G2 (4C DNA content). Simultaneously, the mitotic index fell, though a mitotic wave appeared later. Cell accumulation in G2 was transient and partially reversed by caffeine, thus it was checkpoint-dependent. Strikingly, the additional G2 time provided by this checkpoint was never long enough to complete DNA repair. Then, in all cases, some G2 cells with still-unrepaired DNA underwent checkpoint adaptation, i.e., they entered into the late mitotic wave with chromatid breaks. These cells and those produced by the breakage of chromosomal bridges in anaphase will reach the G1 of the next cell cycle unrepaired, ensuring the appearance of genome instabilit
MarsLux: HI-Resolution Illumination Maps Generator for Mars
Illumination simulation codes for the Moon's surface have been thoroughly developed during the last years. Despite works done for the Moon, no studies have investigated the relation between sunlight illumination and the Martian surface applying those codes done for the Moon to Mars. The objective of this work is to describe the development of a surface illumination simulation code, called MarsLux, which allows users to make a detailed investigation of the illumination conditions on Mars, based on its topography and the relative position of the Sun. Our code can derive accurate illumination maps, form topographic data, showing areas that are fully illuminated, areas in total shadow, and areas with partial shade, in short computational times. Although the code does not take into account any atmospheric effect, the results proved to be of high accuracy. The maps generated are useful for geomorphological studies, to study gullies, thermal weathering, or mass wasting processes as well as for producing energy budget maps for future exploration missions.Fil: Spagnuolo, Mauro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Oficina de CoordinaciĂłn Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Carballo, Federico Daniel. Servicio Geologico Minero Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Marco Figuera, R.. Jacobs University Bremen; AlemaniaFil: Rossi, A. P.. Jacobs University Bremen; Alemani
Tomography of high-redshift clusters with OSIRIS
High-redshift clusters of galaxies are amongst the largest cosmic structures.
Their properties and evolution are key ingredients to our understanding of
cosmology: to study the growth of structure from the inhomogeneities of the
cosmic microwave background; the processes of galaxy formation, evolution, and
differentiation; and to measure the cosmological parameters (through their
interaction with the geometry of the universe, the age estimates of their
component galaxies, or the measurement of the amount of matter locked in their
potential wells). However, not much is yet known about the properties of
clusters at redshifts of cosmological interest. We propose here a radically new
method to study large samples of cluster galaxies using microslits to perform
spectroscopy of huge numbers of objects in single fields in a narrow spectral
range-chosen to fit an emission line at the cluster redshift. Our objective is
to obtain spectroscopy in a very restricted wavelength range (~100 A in width)
of several thousands of objects for each single 8x8 square arcmin field.
Approximately 100 of them will be identified as cluster emission-line objects
and will yield basic measurements of the dynamics and the star formation in the
cluster (that figure applies to a cluster at z~0.50, and becomes ~40 and ~20
for clusters at z~0.75 and z~1.00 respectively). This is a pioneering approach
that, once proven, will be followed in combination with photometric redshift
techniques and applied to other astrophysical problems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of "Science with the GTC", Granada
(Spain), February 2002, RMxAA in pres
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