Over burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid

2005 is het Europees jaar van burgerschap door onderwijs en vorming. We stellen echter vast dat dit project nog steeds een opvoeding tot burger, maar geen opvoeding in burgerschap betekent. Opvoeden tot burgerzin heeft echter geen zin. Het ontstaat immers niet doordat men door anderen daartoe wordt opgevoed. Onze betrokkenheid bij de publieke zaak en onze interesse naar anderen ontstaan pas wanneer wij zelf op het spel staan en er dus met andere woorden baat bij hebben. Het ontstaat als bijprodukt van een dynamiek die zich afspeelt in het leven van de individuele burger. Onze hedendaagse democratie biedt de mogelijkheid zich terug te trekken in een zelfgenoegzame private sfeer waar mensen die het goed hebben zich niet meer op het spel gezet voelen. Hier dreigt een groot gevaar. In mijn bijdrage zou ik daarom willen betogen dat burgerschap niet zozeer moet gezien worden als een politiek participeren, maar eerder als een intermenselijk ageren waarbij wij elkaar, weliswaar op morele wijze, op het spel durven zetten. Vanuit deze optiek zal ik spreken over burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid. Ik zal deze burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid omschrijven en onderbouwen met argumentaties van filosofen zoals Hannah Arendt, Peter Sloterdijk en Richard Rorty, om vervolgens te concluderen dat een burger die weet wat het betekent burgerlijk ongehoorzaam te zijn en burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid te ervaren, zich sneller geroepen zal voelen zijn private wereld te verlaten.Emilie Van Daele studeerde Wijsbegeerte aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en volgde tevens enkele jaren een regie-opleiding aan het RITS in Brussel. Momenteel vervult zij een onderzoeksmandaat van de Onderzoeksraad van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel en werkt ze aan een proefschrift met als titel: ‘Het zich versterkende subject en de op het spel zettende ander. Een studie aan de hand van het werk van Emmanuel Levinas’. Ze is tevens lid van het Centrum voor de studie van de Verlichting en het Hedendaagse Humanisme. Binnenkort verschijnt haar eerste publicatie met als titel: ‘Over de aankomst in een vijandige wereld. Het verstaan van de ander in de filosofie van Peter Sloterdijk’

Mapping the lifelines: how the design of infrastructure networks impacts on transformation in dispersed territories

Besides compact cities, Western Europe is characterised by low-density dispersion, resulting in a landscape with elements of both city and land. These dispersed territories offer an alternative to a traditional urban–rural dichotomy framework and have been put forward as twenty-first-century cities. However, these territories are currently facing urgent and complex socio-economic and ecological challenges. One such territory is the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai, a transnational region on the border of Belgium and France. The hypothesis is that the evolution of the Eurometropolis territory is closely intertwined with its infrastructure networks. The structure of this article is threefold. First, it describes the non-binary condition in which the Eurometropolis is situated. Second, it analyses the evolution of infrastructure networks in the Eurometropolis from the late eighteenth century to today through case studies. Third, it highlights the potential future role of infrastructure networks in providing answers to large-scale challenges. The research presented in this article demonstrates that transformation in dispersed territories is closely related to the evolution of their infrastructure networks. Moreover, infrastructure – such as waterways, railways and roads – has enabled an urban condition without urban form in the Eurometropolis dispersed territories. In the light of these findings, the article shows that the inherent nature of dispersed territories can be influenced by rethinking these infrastructures to proactively address the collective challenges at stake

Spatio-temporal impact of climate change on the groundwater system

Given the importance of groundwater for food production and drinking water supply, but also for the survival of groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems (GWDTEs) it is essential to assess the impact of climate change on this freshwater resource. In this paper we study with high temporal and spatial resolution the impact of 28 climate change scenarios on the groundwater system of a lowland catchment in Belgium. Our results show for the scenario period 2070–2101 compared with the reference period 1960– 1991, a change in annual groundwater recharge between −20% and +7%. On average annual groundwater recharge decreases 7%. In most scenarios the recharge increases during winter but decreases during summer. The altered recharge patterns cause the groundwater level to decrease significantly from September to January. On average the groundwater level decreases about 7 cm with a standard deviation between the scenarios of 5 cm. Groundwater levels in interfluves and upstream areas are more sensitive to climate change than groundwater levels in the river valley. Groundwater discharge to GWDTEs is expected to decrease during late summer and autumn as much as 10%, though the discharge remains at reference-period level during winter and early spring. As GWDTEs are strongly influenced by temporal dynamics of the groundwater system, close monitoring of groundwater and implementation of adaptive management measures are required to prevent ecological loss

On Iterated Twisted Tensor Products of Algebras

We introduce and study the definition, main properties and applications of iterated twisted tensor products of algebras, motivated by the problem of defining a suitable representative for the product of spaces in noncommutative geometry. We find conditions for constructing an iterated product of three factors, and prove that they are enough for building an iterated product of any number of factors. As an example of the geometrical aspects of our construction, we show how to construct differential forms and involutions on iterated products starting from the corresponding structures on the factors, and give some examples of algebras that can be described within our theory. We prove a certain result (called ``invariance under twisting'') for a twisted tensor product of two algebras, stating that the twisted tensor product does not change when we apply certain kind of deformation. Under certain conditions, this invariance can be iterated, containing as particular cases a number of independent and previously unrelated results from Hopf algebra theory.Comment: 44 pages, 21 figures. More minor typos corrections, one more example and some references adde

Quantification and prognostic relevance of angiogenic parameters in invasive cervical cancer.

Tumour stromal neovascularization was investigated in 114 invasive and 20 in situ carcinomas of the uterine cervix by staining representative sections with the specific endothelial marker anti CD31 (clone JC/70A, isotope IgG1). A digital image analyser was used to measure the immunoreactivity. The following parameters were determined in the 'hot spots': vessel counts, vessel perimeter and endothelial stained area (expressed per mm2). The results were correlated with clinical and histopathological data. There was no significant relationship between the histopathological findings (tumour histology, tumour differentiation, FIGO stage, presence of lymph node metastasis or lymphovascular space involvement) and the median vessel count. In a univariate analysis all angiogenesis parameters had prognostic value: a higher vascularity was associated with worse prognosis (P < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that vascular permeation (P < 0.001) and the median vessel count (P = 0.005) were the most important prognostic indicators. In the future these criteria may be used for selection of patients for anti-angiogenesis therapy

The Hazar pull-apart along the East Anatolian Fault: Structure and active deformation

Understanding the irregularity of seismic cycles: A case study in Turke