De l'exemple à l'exemplum : réflexions sur leur efficacité rhétorique

Entre l'exemplum modèle et le « par exemple » glissé dans une argumentation, on pourrait voir deux mondes distincts, deux rapports de force. Nous y voyons plutôt un continuum entre deux usages rhétoriques de l'exemple. Cet article vise à mettre en exergue la portée persuasive de l'exemple, que celui-ci ait un rôle de modèle ou d'illustration. Après avoir analysé la force rhétorique des locutions « par exemple », « à l'exemple de » et «l'exemple même », nous observerons différentes utilisations d'exemples dans des genres politiques différents : le discours sur la misère de Victor Hugo, deux discours de guerre de Charles de Gaulle et une affiche populiste suisse. Ce corpus vise à vérifier la pertinence ou la constance de certains traits définitoires dégagés à partir des exempla antiques et médiévaux dans la période contemporaine.

Quantifying rates of landscape evolution and tectonic processes by thermochronology and numerical modeling of crustal heat transport using PECUBE

PECUBE is a three-dimensional thermal-kinematic code capable of solving the heat production-diffusion-advection equation under a temporally varying surface boundary condition. It was initially developed to assess the effects of time-varying surface topography (relief) on low-temperature thermochronological datasets. Thermochronometric ages are predicted by tracking the time-temperature histories of rock-particles ending up at the surface and by combining these with various age-prediction models. In the decade since its inception, the PECUBE code has been under continuous development as its use became wider and addressed different tectonic-geomorphic problems. This paper describes several major recent improvements in the code, including its integration with an inverse-modeling package based on the Neighborhood Algorithm, the incorporation of fault-controlled kinematics, several different ways to address topographic and drainage change through time, the ability to predict subsurface (tunnel or borehole) data, prediction of detrital thermochronology data and a method to compare these with observations, and the coupling with landscape-evolution (or surface-process) models. Each new development is described together with one or several applications, so that the reader and potential user can clearly assess and make use of the capabilities of PECUBE. We end with describing some developments that are currently underway or should take place in the foreseeable future. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Youth of the Eighties, Parents of 2000, Sociological Observations

(Résumé de l'ouvrage) This book is meant to honour the Belgian religious educationalist Herman Lombaerts reflecting on his legacy. He is internationally renowned as a scholar with a strong commitment to and a conceptual analysis of the social and cultural context in which people live and learn. This series of essays is build upon a thought provoking, streamlined design on the relationship between theology and education, relying on Lombaerts' societal and cultural analysis of contemporary religious education. Three key elements are at stake: the self-agency of the learner, the hermeneutic and communitive interpretation of religious traditions in the teaching of religion, and the radical re-imagination of Christian theology relying on this new model of religious educational praxis. For Lombaerts, the search processes of religious people have their own dynamic and dignity. Practical theology should listen carefully and empathetically to this quest. But he is also convinced of the need of solid fundamental research to understand critically its ambiguities and perspectives. Scholars from Europe, the United States and Australia lead the way in this process of "conceptual stretching". Issues such as happiness of children, identity formation of youth, educational and religious insecurity of parents, multi-faith education, tradition crisis of churches, theological education of lay ministers, narrativity and modern art in religious education, etc. are examined from a practical theological point of view, with a strong commitment to the philosophical, psychological, sociological, educational and political dimensions of three issues. With this book the editors hope to commemorate Lombaerts' international radiation, by building a collegial bridge between the different theoretical approaches in the German, Dutch, French, Italian and Anglo-Saxon religious educational research.

Regulatory assessment of in vitro skin corrosion and irritation data within the European framework: Workshop recommendations

Validated in vitro methods for skin corrosion and irritation were adopted by the OECD and by the European Union during the last decade. In the EU, Switzerland and countries adopting the EU legislation, these assays may allow the full replacement of animal testing for identifying and classifying compounds as skin corrosives, skin irritants, and non irritants. In order to develop harmonised recommendations on the use of in vitro data for regulatory assessment purposes within the European framework, a workshop was organized by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health together with ECVAM and the BfR. It comprised stakeholders from various European countries involved in the process from in vitro testing to the regulatory assessment of in vitro data. Discussions addressed the following questions: (1) the information requirements considered useful for regulatory assessment; (2) the applicability of in vitro skin corrosion data to assign the corrosive subcategories as implemented by the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation; (3) the applicability of testing strategies for determining skin corrosion and irritation hazards; and (4) the applicability of the adopted in vitro assays to test mixtures, preparations and dilutions. Overall, a number of agreements and recommendations were achieved in order to clarify and facilitate the assessment and use of in vitro data from regulatory accepted methods, and ultimately help regulators and scientists facing with the new in vitro approaches to evaluate skin irritation and corrosion hazards and risks without animal data.

"Accomodating science" : a new way of thinking about rhetorical dynamics

By analyzing three case studies (neutrinos, victimization survey and quality of mass media), our present issue is to figure out if underlying successive accommodations to new rhetorical situations will have an impact on the respective importance of logos, ethos and pathos. We would like to pinpoint the stakes of science's public dimensions considering the scientists' image, their expertise, and also the given results' implication. We will especially take into account scientific papers that may be or are potentially controversial in the political, media and civic spheres.

The MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC)-II study of common practices for the development and validation of microarray-based predictive models.

Gene expression data from microarrays are being applied to predict preclinical and clinical endpoints, but the reliability of these predictions has not been established. In the MAQC-II project, 36 independent teams analyzed six microarray data sets to generate predictive models for classifying a sample with respect to one of 13 endpoints indicative of lung or liver toxicity in rodents, or of breast cancer, multiple myeloma or neuroblastoma in humans. In total, >30,000 models were built using many combinations of analytical methods. The teams generated predictive models without knowing the biological meaning of some of the endpoints and, to mimic clinical reality, tested the models on data that had not been used for training. We found that model performance depended largely on the endpoint and team proficiency and that different approaches generated models of similar performance. The conclusions and recommendations from MAQC-II should be useful for regulatory agencies, study committees and independent investigators that evaluate methods for global gene expression analysis.

Prémisses indéniables, mais dialogue de sourds quand même : la liberté d'expression au prisme d'une votation helvétique (initiative "muselière")

Peut-on débattre sur cet arrière-plan topique universel que sont les Droits de l'Homme ? Si tout le monde est d'accord avec ces principes, est-il encore possible d'assister à d'irrémédiables coupures argumentatives entre deux camps pratiquant le dialogue de sourds (Angenot 2008) ? L'analyse d'un corpus tout à fait particulier qui représente toute une production textuelle servant aux citoyens suisses pour se forger une opinion avant un référendum tend à montrer que oui. Ce corpus journalistique et politique se fonde sur un cas assez aigu de débat autour de la liberté d'expression. Ces textes commentent un projet émanant de citoyens suisses qui visait à interdire à l'exécutif fédéral de se prononcer sur un sujet de vote pendant la campagne précédant la votation, le but étant de ne pas influencer par leur autorité le choix des citoyens. Restreindre ainsi la liberté d'expression au profit supposé d'une liberté de choix et de discernement conduit à une bataille entre deux camps. La rhétorique éristique qui en résulte confirme l'hypothèse du dialogue de sourds en se fondant sur une stigmatisation du camp adverse, un combat autour de définitions clés et un désaccord sur le relevé des problèmes. Moins que des arguments, les adversaires se renvoient des questions de frontières, de lexique et de légitimité.

Rhétorique des incipit dans les articles scientifiques en sciences humaines et sociales

L'article scientifique est un genre universitaire qui n'est pas sans enjeu de conviction. L'incipit en particulier doit d'une part s'inscrire dans un savoir préexistant, présenter son objet, qui est apte à transformer ce savoir, et susciter la confiance du lecteur, que ce soit par les connaissances mobilisées ou par la manière de les présenter. Cet article, une étude de 40 incipits d'articles scientifiques en sciences humaines et sociales, vise à faire un inventaire des stratégies employées dans ce lieu crucial de prise de contact.

Théorie de l'argumentation et théorie du texte : quelques enjeux d'une approche textuelle de l'argumentation

Résumé : La question du texte, négligée par la plupart des théories de l'argumentation, est ici abordée frontalement. L'étude est exemplifiée par le cas d'un genre journalistique de l'argumentation : une tribune libre écrite par un astro-physicien qui pose un certain nombre de problèmes intéressants. D'un point de vue méthodologique, la distinction de trois niveaux d'analyse est conforme aux grandes options de la linguistique textuelle : niveaux périodique micro-textuel de l'argumentation, niveau méso-textuel des « cellules argumentatives » et niveau macro-textuel du plan de texte. Ce dernier niveau ouvre sur la généricité complexe d'un texte qui relève à la fois d'un genre de l'opinion journalistique et du genre de la controverse polémique entre scientifiques à propos du traitement médiatique prématuré d'une découverte scientifique.