Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805-1859)

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French intellectual and politician, who has been variously considered as historian, sociologist, and political theorist. His most well-known work is Democracy in America (1835–1840), a classic study not only of democracy in America but of democracy itself. Sociologists have found in this analysis of the early years of the American Republic a seminal source of inspiration for the study of contemporary American society and politics. By the 1970s, the interest of sociologists in Tocqueville’s work began to dwindle. By contrast, in political science Tocqueville’s status as a classic thinker of democracy was never in question. In recent years, however, sociologists have joined political scientists in responding to Tocqueville’s call for a “new political science”. His writings provide sociologists with an enduring source of inspiration for the analysis of social problems such as slavery, revolution, inequality, individualism, materialism, religion and colonialism.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Revisiting Tocqueville: Citizenship Norms, Political Repertoires, and Cultural Participation

What are the reasons for Tocqueville’s eternal youth?” This is the question Raymond Boudon asks in his recent book, Tocqueville for Today (Boudon 2006: 2). In other words, why do we keep reading Democracy in America, a book written in the 1830s, in order to understand how liberal democracy works today, both in the US and elsewhere? Boudon’s answer — that Tocqueville gave us a new and innovative sociological analysis that has yet to be surpassed — points to the exceptional character of his contribution to the understanding of modern societies. Alongside the names of Weber and Durkheim, Boudon doubtless includes Tocqueville as one of his most admired classic social thinkers. Curiously enough, Boudon’s assessment of Tocqueville as a sociological classic was itself an exceptional judgment only a generation ago

Impacts of climate change: challenges of flooding in coastal East Asia

Over recent years a body of evidence has grown to suggest that East Asia is experiencing the effects of climate change. Allied to this is that coastal populations and economic assets are becoming more vulnerable to flood hazards. Flood vulnerability has increased owing to the combination of a number of human and physical variables: a) rapid coastal urban growth, b) anthropogenic changes to the environment, such as land subsidence through natural resource extraction or the removal of natural protective barriers, and c) increase in frequency and magnitude of coastal hazards associated with typhoons, storm surges, and sea-level rise. East Asia’s population is highly concentrated on low-lying coastal regions and deltaic cities are especially at risk. However, effective adaptation to climate impacts on many coasts is yet to develop. In this chapter, the drivers of coastal vulnerability are reviewed and examined in East Asia, exemplified by the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and its megacities of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The population of the PRD is expected to reach 120 million by 2050 and the delta is one of the most important economic centres in East Asia. Flood risk is substantial in the PRD, but flood-risk management appears to suffer from a lack of sufficient strategic planning to prepare for future climate extremes. Drawing on international experience of climate change adaptation and flood risk management, we suggest a path forward to develop adaptation strategies for deltaic and coastal cities in East Asia

Control of polymorphism in coronene by the application of magnetic fields

Coronene, a polyaromatic hydrocarbon, has been crystallized for the first time in a different polymorph using a crystal growth method that utilizes magnetic fields to access a unit cell configuration that was hitherto unknown. Crystals grown in magnetic field of 1 T are larger, have a different appearance to those grown in zero field and retain their structure in ambient conditions. We identify the new form, beta-coronene, as the most stable at low temperatures. As a result of the new supramolecular configuration we report significantly altered electronic, optical and mechanical properties.Comment: 32 pages, 17 figure

Silent Information Regulator 2 from Trypanosoma cruzi Is a Potential Target to Infection Control

Human trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Trypanosoma. Trypanosoma brucei is responsible for sleeping sickness, also called African trypanosomiasis, while Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis. Together, these diseases are responsible for significant mortality, morbidity and lost productivity in the endemic regions. There are no vaccines and treatments rely on drugs with limited efficacy, high cost, serious side effects and long administration periods. Since these diseases affect mostly the poor, there is no economic interest in the development of new drugs by pharmaceutical companies, and hopes for new treatments rely on public initiatives, public-private partnerships or philanthropic programs. The first step in the discovery of new drugs involves the identification of active molecules as starting points for further development, by either employing whole cells or by specific molecular target screenings. Research efforts undertaken by the authors’ groups have focused on exploiting both strategies in the search for new molecules for trypanosomiasis drug discovery. In this chapter, we focus on Chagas disease and the recently uncovered potential of using sirtuins as targets for infection control

RECONCEITUANDO EDUCAÇÃO INTERCULTURAL: UM MODELO DE EDUCAÇÃO LINGUÍSTICA

Hoje, a educação realiza-se em um contexto que se transforma rapidamente. Fala-se muito da demanda por uma cidadania fundamentada em letramentos matemático e linguístico, e de uma maior conscientização das questões de equidade e inclusão. Além disso, a educação e a pesquisa educacional estão sendo consideradas mais responsáveis por seus efeitos. Muitas pesquisas educacionais passaram a apelar para as noções de 'social' e 'cultural' para abordar problemas cada vez mais visíveis no ensino e na aprendizagem e explicar o fracasso da educação em produzir esses cidadãos letrados tanto em relação aos números quanto às línguas. No entanto, receio que nem sempre se reconheça a complexidade para se trabalhar com os termos "social" e "cultural". À medida que avançamos no âmbito social, devemos estar cientes de que encontramos a sociedade como comunidades organizadas e ordenadas e devemos trabalhar com a sociologia e os estudos culturais como formas de teorizar a estrutura e o funcionamento da sociedade humana, em conjunto com seus textos e artefatos. Todos esses aspectos são abordados neste ensaio

The I Band Tully-Fisher Relation for Cluster Galaxies: Data Presentation.

Observational parameters which can be used for redshift-independent distance determination using the Tully-Fisher (TF) technique are given for 782 spiral galaxies in the fields of 24 clusters or groups. I band photometry for the full sample was either obtained by us or compiled from published literature. Rotational velocities are derived either from 21 cm spectra or optical emission line long--slit spectra, and converted to a homogeneous scale. In addition to presenting the data, a discussion of the various sources of error on TF parameters is introduced, and the criteria for the assignment of membership to each cluster are given