The Eternality of the Sacred : Durkheim’s Error ?

Durkheim affirmait que le sacré était éternel. Il pouvait prendre des formes diverses et changer d’une société à l’autre mais il était toujours présent. Cette affirmation est mise au défi, non pas sur le plan de la théorie sociale mais sur celui de la réalité empirique de la Grande-Bretagne. En dépit de l’existence de nombreuses enclaves où l’on rencontre du sacré, lorsqu’on observe le pays, globalement, les seules revendications perceptibles sont en faveur d’une forme d’humanisme. Jusqu’à quel point et dans quels groupes les repère-t-on ? Serait-ce dans les attitudes humanistes que les citoyens britanniques trouveraient leur sacré ? L’humanisme ne serait-il qu’un système moral ?Durkheim soutenait que toute morale comportait une dimension sacrée sinon religieuse. Mais on peut douter qu’il en soit réellement ainsi. Selon Durkheim l’humanisme servait de base à la religion de l’homme occidental moderne. Le culte de l’individu auquel il se référa si souvent constitue-t-il une religion ? Il ne réunit pourtant pas les critères que Durkheim posait pour définir la religion. Durkheim met lui-même en échec la visée « scientifique » de sa démarche lorsqu’il affirme que les notions de sacré et de religion sont des universaux culturels. Et si la Grande-Bretagne n’était qu’une des exceptions à la règle, cela même suffirait à soulever un certain nombre de questions

Let it ride

Written with the breathtaking beauty of the woods at night, 'Let It Ride' is a lyrical, witty celebration of the significance of the small things in our lives--children, insects, fleeting thoughts--by a writer of uncommon talentSpeakeasy -- Real -- Night thoughts -- Representative -- Will it never end -- A fair advantage -- Let it ride -- After the daffodils -- Again -- Traveling, but not alone -- What next -- ShoppingDigitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

Abnormally high content of free glucosamine residues identified in a preparation of commercially available porcine intestinal heparan sulfate

Heparan sulfate (HS) polysaccharides are ubiquitous in animal tissues as components of proteoglycans, and they participate in many important biological processes. HS carbohydrate chains are complex and can contain rare structural components such as N-unsubstituted glucosamine (GlcN). Commercially available HS preparations have been invaluable in many types of research activities. In the course of preparing microarrays to include probes derived from HS oligosaccharides, we found an unusually high content of GlcN residue in a recently purchased batch of porcine intestinal mucosal HS. Composition and sequence analysis by mass spectrometry of the oligosaccharides obtained after heparin lyase III digestion of the polysaccharide indicated two and three GlcN in the tetrasaccharide and hexasaccharide fractions, respectively. (1)H NMR of the intact polysaccharide showed that this unusual batch differed strikingly from other HS preparations obtained from bovine kidney and porcine intestine. The very high content of GlcN (30%) and low content of GlcNAc (4.2%) determined by disaccharide composition analysis indicated that N-deacetylation and/or N-desulfation may have taken place. HS is widely used by the scientific community to investigate HS structures and activities. Great care has to be taken in drawing conclusions from investigations of structural features of HS and specificities of HS interaction with proteins when commercial HS is used without further analysis. Pending the availability of a validated commercial HS reference preparation, our data may be useful to members of the scientific community who have used the present preparation in their studies

The UV tube: a family-shared water disinfection system in rural Sri Lanka

The UV tube: a family-shared water disinfection system in rural Sri Lank

Energy and environmental assessment and reuse of fluidised bed recycled carbon fibres

Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) recycling and the reutilisation of the recovered carbon fibre (rCF) 2 can compensate for the high impacts of virgin carbon fibre (vCF) production. In this paper, we evaluate the 3 energy and environmental impacts of CF recycling by a fluidised bed process and reuse to manufacture a 4 CFRP material. A ‘gate-to gate’ life cycle model of the CFRP recycling route using papermaking and 5 compression moulding methods is developed based on energy analysis of the fluidised bed recycling process 6 and processing of rCF. Key recycling plant operating parameters, including plant capacity, feed rate, and air 7 2 in-leakage are investigated. Life cycle impact assessments demonstrate the environmental benefits of recycled 8 CFRP against end of life treatments-landfilling, incineration. The use of rCF to displace vCF based on 9 material indices (equivalent stiffness and equivalent strength) therefore proves to be a competitive alternative 10 for composite manufacture in terms of environmental impact