Electrochemical study of aluminum corrosion in boiling high purity water

Electrochemical study of aluminum corrosion in boiling high-purity water includes an equation relating current and electrochemical potential derived on the basis of a physical model of the corrosion process. The work involved an examination of the cathodic polarization behavior of 1100 aluminum during aqueous oxidation

La parole du philosophe éthicien est-elle crédible?

L'article a pour objectif de poser les accords premiers et nécessaires à l'élaboration de la parole éthique aujourd'hui. Revenant sur la distinction langage - parole, l'A. propose d'orienter la recherche sur la parole (mode dialogique), où le recours aux fondements de la véracité du dire est remplacé par le partage de sens et les raisons de croire. Cette orientation exige de définir le rôle de la philosophie, d'orienter la recherche en éthique sur la délibération humaine et de tenter la corroboration avec des sciences humaines telles la psychologie du développement moral et la psychanalyse.This article aims to trace the basic agreements necessary to the articulation of ethics today. The A. proposes that research be oriented on the dialogical aspect of speech, proposing to insist thus upon reasons to believe and upon the sharing of meaning sharing rather than upon the foundational aspect of ethical language. The orientation supposes that the role of philosophy be redefined, that ethics be centered on human deliberation and that corroborations be searched with other human sciences, namely moral développement psychology and psychoanalysis

Patterns of silver eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) sex ratio in a catchment

Changes in the numbers and size-class structure of European silver eels, Anguilla anguilla, in the River Fre´mur (France) were examined over a 9-year period after installation of downstream eel passes. The number of silver eels migrating downstream peaked in 1999, then decreased strongly and steadily after 2000, reaching relatively low levels. At the same time, a gradual shift in the silver eel sex ratio from a dominance of males (size from 270 to 442 mm, age from 3 to 6 years) to females (size from 366 to 1112 mm, age from 4 to 9 years) was recorded. Possible explanations for the escapement patterns observed are environmental sex determination and the installation of eel passes on the main hydraulic engineering structures in 1992 and 1996

Assessing the Social Acceptability of New Technologies: Gaps and Tensions Between Science and Regulation

ArticleLes considérations éthiques concernant le développement de technologies font maintenant partie du champ de la bioéthique, concentrées en grande partie sur les interactions entre la science et le gouvernement pour établir le bien social. Depuis l’avènement des différentes formes de biotechnologies, l’analyse scientifique des risques a fait l’objet de diverses lignes de questionnement par rapport au rôle que la science quantitative joue dans la surveillance gouvernementale. Cela est d’autant plus important dans le débat actuel sur l’acceptabilité des nanotechnologies. Dans cet article, nous précisons d’abord les points forts et les limites de l’analyse scientifique de l’acceptabilité sociale des risques de la nanotechnologie. Ensuite, nous montrons les limites de l’adoption d’une approche empirique dans les sciences sociales et humaines pour prédire l’acceptabilité sociale d’une technologie. Nous soutenons que la reconnaissance des hypothèses sous-jacentes de ces deux approches quantitatives doit ouvrir une route à des approches plus réflexives par les sciences sociales et les sciences humaines.Ethical considerations regarding the development of technologies are now a standard part of the field of bioethics, focused in large part on the interactions between science and government in establishing the social good. Since the advent of different forms of biotechnology, scientific risk analysis has been subject to various lines of questioning relative to the role that quantitative science plays in government oversight. This is even more significant in the present debate on the acceptability of nanotechnology. In this article, we first specify the strengths and limitations of the scientific analysis of the social acceptability of risks in nanotechnology. Next, we demonstrate the limitations of taking an empirical approach in the social sciences and the humanities to predicting the social acceptability of a technology. We argue that recognizing the assumptions underlying these two quantitative approaches should open up a road to more reflective approaches by the social sciences and the humanities

Solution of a second order difference equation using the bilinear relations of Riemann

A recently proposed technique to solve a class of second order functional difference equations arising in electromagnetic diffraction theory is further investigated by applying it to a case of intermediate complexity. The proposed approach is conceptually simple and relies on first obtaining well-defined branched solutions to a pair of associated first order difference equations. The construction of these branched expressions leads to an equation system whose solution requires relationships akin to Riemann’s bilinear relations for differentials of the first and third kinds; their derivation necessitates the application of Cauchy’s theorem on Riemann surfaces of, in this particular instance, genera one and three. Branch-free solutions of the second order difference equation are then obtained by taking appropriate linear combinations of the branched solutions of the first order equations. Analysis and computation demonstrate that the resulting expressions have the desired analytical properties and recover known solutions in the appropriate limit. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71093/2/JMAPAQ-43-3-1598-1.pd