Pour un pluralisme démocratique

Les démocraties modernes sont des sociétés traversées par l’individualisme. Elles ne sont pas nécessairement condamnées pour autant à sombrer dans l’égoïsme du marché ou dans la fragmentation identitaire. Il existe des formes de solidarité inhérentes à l’individualisme démocratique. Quatre formes de solidarité à l’oeuvre au sein des démocraties modernes sont définies de façon à dégager, en cette fin de siècle, les virtualités d’une possible recomposition démocratique du lien social.Modem democracies are becoming more and more individualized. This process cannot be equated to simple market individualism or fragmented identities. Democratic individualism inhenrently exhibits modern forms of solidarities. Four forms of solidarities related to modern democracy are examined as to reveal the actual potential of a democratic reconstruction of social life

The Politics of Selection: The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and the Imperial Commemoration of Canadian History, 1919-1950

This article is a preliminary inquiry into the selection process used by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) in making its recommendations for the national historic significance of sites, events and individuals between 1919 and 1950. It argues that, while the HSMBC was composed of dedicated and leading figures in the field of Canadian history, Board members operated for its first 30 years almost exclusively as a Victorian gentlemen’s club, without a system of checks and balances. The ideological dominance of the British imperial mindset influenced Board members’ field of historical interests as well as their recommendation for national historic designations of sites, events or individuals. These points will be illustrated by examining the origins and the operations of the HSMBC between 1919 and 1950, and the recommendations for national historic designation presented to the HSMBC by two prominent Board members: Brigadier General Ernest Cruikshank and Dr. John Clarence Webster.Cet article est un premier questionnement quant au processus de sélection utilisé par la Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada (CLMHC) pour faire ses recommandations relativement aux lieux, aux événements et aux personnages d'importance historique nationale entre les années 1919 et 1950. Il soutient que quoique des personnes dévouées et importantes du domaine de l'histoire canadienne fassent partie de la CLMHC, cette der-nière fonctionne presque exclusivement tel un club privé victorien réservé aux hommes, c'est-à-dire sans système de contrôle, au cours des trente premières années de son existence. La dominance idéologique de la mentalité impériale britannique influence les champs d'intérêt historiques des membres de la Commission ainsi que leurs recommandations quant à la désignation des lieux, des événements et des personnages d'importance historique nationale. Ces points seront illustrés par l'étude des origines et du fonctionnement de la CLMHC entre les années 1919 et 1950, et des recommandations relatives aux désignations d'importance historique nationale présentées à la CLMHC par deux de ses membres éminents, soit le brigadier général Ernest Cruikshank et le Dr John Clarence Webster

Efficiency at maximum power output of an irreversible Carnot-like cycle with internally dissipative friction

We investigate the efficiency at maximum power of an irreversible Carnot engine performing finite-time cycles between two reservoirs at temperatures $T_h$ and $T_c$ $(T_c<T_h)$, taking into account of internally dissipative friction in two "adiabatic" processes. In the frictionless case, the efficiencies at maximum power output are retrieved to be situated between $\eta_{_C}/$ and $\eta_{_C}/(2-\eta_{_C})$, with $\eta_{_C}=1-T_c/{T_h}$ being the Carnot efficiency. The strong limits of the dissipations in the hot and cold isothermal processes lead to the result that the efficiency at maximum power output approaches the values of $\eta_{_C}/$ and $\eta_{_C}/(2-\eta_{_C})$, respectively. When dissipations of two isothermal and two adiabatic processes are symmetric, respectively, the efficiency at maximum power output is founded to be bounded between 0 and the Curzon-Ahlborn (CA) efficiency $1-\sqrt{1-\eta{_C}}$, and the the CA efficiency is achieved in the absence of internally dissipative friction

Sunyaev-Zel'dovich clusters reconstruction in multiband bolometer camera surveys

We present a new method for the reconstruction of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) galaxy clusters in future SZ-survey experiments using multiband bolometer cameras such as Olimpo, APEX, or Planck. Our goal is to optimise SZ-Cluster extraction from our observed noisy maps. We wish to emphasize that none of the algorithms used in the detection chain is tuned on prior knowledge on the SZ -Cluster signal, or other astrophysical sources (Optical Spectrum, Noise Covariance Matrix, or covariance of SZ Cluster wavelet coefficients). First, a blind separation of the different astrophysical components which contribute to the observations is conducted using an Independent Component Analysis (ICA) method. Then, a recent non linear filtering technique in the wavelet domain, based on multiscale entropy and the False Discovery Rate (FDR) method, is used to detect and reconstruct the galaxy clusters. Finally, we use the Source Extractor software to identify the detected clusters. The proposed method was applied on realistic simulations of observations. As for global detection efficiency, this new method is impressive as it provides comparable results to Pierpaoli et al. method being however a blind algorithm. Preprint with full resolution figures is available at the URL: w10-dapnia.saclay.cea.fr/Phocea/Vie_des_labos/Ast/ast_visu.php?id_ast=728Comment: Submitted to A&A. 32 Pages, text onl