Kansalaisvaikuttamista? Habermasilaisen julkisuusteorian anti suomalaiselle ympäristöliikkeelle

Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa analysoidaan suomalaista ympäristöliikettä Jürgen Habermasin julkisuuden käsitteen näkökulmasta. Työn tutkimusongelmana on tarkastella julkisuutta ympäristövaikuttamisen keinona. Ponnahduslautana tutkimuksessa käytetään 2000-luvun Lapin metsien käyttöä koskevia kiistoja, joiden ratkomisyrityksiin moni Suomessa toimiva ympäristöjärjestö on osallistunut. Pitkään ratkaisemattomina olleet kiistat ovat johtaneet tilanteeseen, jossa on perusteltua kysyä, mikä ongelmien selvittämisessä on mennyt pieleen. Olisiko ennen kaikkea ammattimaiseen ja institutionalisoituneeseen vaikuttamiseen nojanneet ympäristöjärjestöt voineet toimia kiistojen yhteydessä jollakin vaihtoehtoisella tavalla? Vaihtoehdoksi esitetään Jürgen Habermasin tarjoamaa julkisuuden mallia, jonka on nähty olevan keskeinen modernin yhteiskunnan mahdollisuuksia ja rajoitteita arvioitaessa. Käsitys julkisuudesta sisältää ajatuksen kriittiseen keskusteluun pohjautuvasta, kaikille avoimesta kansalaisvaikuttamisesta. Näin muodostuneesta yleisestä mielipiteestä tulee poliittisen päätöksenteon ohjenuora. Julkisuuden ihanteen rinnalla Habermasin teoria sisältää kuvauksen julkisuuden rakennemuutoksesta – kriittisen julkisuuden alennustilasta myöhäiskapitalistisessa kulutusyhteiskunnassa. Tässä tutkimuksessa käytän näitä kahta teoreettista näkökulmaa arvioidessani nykyaikaista ympäristövaikuttamista. Keskeisin lähdeteos on Habermasin Julkisuuden rakennemuutos ja sen teoreettista perinnettä jatkaneet tutkimukset. Aineistoni koostuu kuudesta teemahaastattelusta, jotka toteutettiin keväällä 2009 Greenpeacessa, Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitossa ja WWF:ssä. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytän teemoittelua. Sen tuloksena esiin nousevista teemoista keskeisin kertoo ympäristöjärjestöjen ammattimaistumisesta. Tulosteni mukaan ympäristövaikuttamista leimaa institutionalisoituneisuus ja hallinnollisuus, jolloin julkisuusperiaatteen toimintaedellytykset ovat heikentyneet. Julkisuuden käsitteelle löytyy kuitenkin myös varovaista tilausta suomalaisten ympäristöjärjestöjen keskuudessa.

Synthesis of plane linkages to generate functions of two variables using point-position reduction—Part 1. Rotary inputs and output

The paper presents simple graphical procedures for position synthesis of plane linkage mechanisms to generate functions of two independent variables. The procedures are based on point-position reduction and permit synthesis of the linkage to satisfy up to six arbitrarily selected precision positions.

Synthesis of plane linkages to generate functions of two variables using point position reduction—II. Sliding inputs and outputs

The paper presents simple graphical procedures for the position synthesis of plane linkage mechanisms with sliding inputs and output to generate functions of two independent variables. The procedures are based on point position reduction and permit synthesis of the linkage to satisfy up to five arbitrarily selected precision positions.

Anti-windup Schemes for Proportional Integral and Proportional Resonant Controller

Problems like windup or rollover arise in a PI controller working under saturation. Hence anti-windup schemes are necessary to minimize performance degradation.Similar situation may occur in a Proportional Resonant(PR)controller in the presence of a sustained error input.Several methods can be employed based on existing knowledge on PI controller to counter this problem.In this paper few such schemes are proposed and implemented in FPGA and MATLAB and from the obtained results their possible use and limitations have been studied.

New Solid State Forms of the Anti-HIV Drug Efavirenz. Conformational Flexibility and High Z ` Issues

Structural information on the solid forms of efavirenz, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, is limited, although various polymorphic forms of this drug have been patented. We report here structural studies of four new crystal forms a pure form, a cyclohexane solvate, and cocrystals with 1,4-cyclohexanedione and 4,4'-bipyridine. Temperature dependent single-crystal to single-crystal phase transitions are observed for the pure form and for the cyclohexane solvate with an increase in the number of symmetry independent molecules, Z', upon a lowering of temperature. Other issues related to these solid forms, such as thermal stability, conformational flexibility, and high Z' occurrences, are addressed by using a combined experimental and computational approach.

Multiple support excitations of open-plane frames by a filtered white noise and soil-structure interaction

Seismic structural design is essentially the estimation of structural response to a forced motion, which may be deterministic or stochastic, imposed on the ground. The assumption that the same ground motion acts at every point of the base of the structure (or at every support) is not always justifiable; particularly in case of very large structures when considerable spatial variability in ground motion can exist over significant distances example long span bridges. This variability is partly due to the delay in arrival of the excitation at different supports (which is called the wave passage effect) and due to heterogeneity in the ground medium which results in incoherency and local effects. The current study examines the influence of the wave passage effect (in terms of delay in arrival of horizontal ground excitation at different supports and neglecting transmission through the structure) on the response of a few open-plane frame building structures with soil-structure interaction. The ground acceleration has been modeled by a suitably filtered white noise. As a special case, the ground excitation at different supports has also been treated as statistically independent to model the extreme case of incoherence due to local effects and due to modifications to the ground motion resulting from wave reflections and refractions in heterogeneous soil media. The results indicate that, even for relatively short spanned building frames, wave passage effect can be significant. In the absence of soil-structure interaction, it can significantly increase the root mean square (rms) value of the shear in extreme end columns for the stiffer frames but has negligible effect on the flexible frames when total displacements are considered. It is seen that pseudo-static displacements increasingly contribute to the rms value of column shear as the time delay increases both for the stiffer and for the more flexible frames. When soil-structure interaction is considered, wave passage effect (in terms of total displacements) is significant only for low soil shear modulus, G. values (where soil-structure interaction significantly lowers the fundamental frequency) and for stiff frames. The contribution of pseudo-static displacement to these rms values is found to decrease with increase in G. In general, wave passage effect for most interactive frames is insignificant compared to the attenuating effect a decrease in G, has on the response of the interactive structure to uniform support excitation. When the excitations at different supports are statistically independent, it is seen that for both the stiff and flexible frames, the rms value of the column shear in extreme end columns is several times larger (more for the stiffer frames) than the value corresponding to uniform base excitation with the pseudo-static displacements contributing over 99% of the rms value of column shear. Soil-structure interaction has an attenuating effect on the rms value of the column shear, the effect decreasing with increase in G,. Here too, the pseudo-static displacements contribute very largely to the column shear. The influence of the wave passage effect on the response of three 2-bay frames with and without soil-structure interaction to a recorded horizontal accelerogram is also examined. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fate of the superconducting ground state on the Moyal plane

It is known that Berry curvature of the band structure of certain crystals can lead to effective noncommutativity between spatial coordinates. Using the techniques of twisted quantum field theory, we investigate the question of the formation of a paired state of twisted fermions in such a system. We find that to leading order in the noncommutativity parameter, the gap between the non-interacting ground state and the paired state is smaller compared to its commutative counterpart. This suggests that BCS type superconductivity, if present in such systems, is more fragile and easier to disrupt. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anti-amyloidogenic property of leaf aqueous extract of Caesalpinia crista

Amyloid beta (A beta) is the major etiological factor implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). A beta(42) self-assembles to form oligomers and fibrils via multiple aggregation process. The recent studies aimed to decrease A beta levels or prevention of A beta aggregation which are the major targets for therapeutic intervention. Natural products as alternatives for AD drug discovery are a current trend. We evidenced that Caesalpinia crista leaf aqueous extract has anti-amyloidogenic potential. The studies on pharmacological properties of C. crista are very limited. Our study focused on ability of C. crista leaf aqueous extract on the prevention of (i) the formation of oligomers and aggregates from monomers (Phase I: A beta(42) + extract co-incubation); (ii) the formation of fibrils from oligomers (Phase II: extract added after oligomers formation); and (iii) dis-aggregation of pre-formedfibrils (Phase III: aqueous extract added to matured fibrils and incubated for 9 days). The aggregation kinetics was monitored using thioflavin-T assay and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that C. crista aqueous extract could able to inhibit the A beta(42) aggregation from monomers and oligomers and also able todis-aggregate the pre-formed fibrils. The study provides an insight on finding new natural products for AD therapeutics. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultimate Strength of RC Wall Panels in One-Way In-Plane Action

Test results of 24 reinforced concrete wall panels in one-way in-plane action are presented. The panels were loaded at a small eccentricity to reflect possible eccentric loading in practice. Influences of slenderness ratio, aspect ratio, vertical steel, and horizontal steel on the ultimate load are studied. An empirical equation modifying two existing methods is proposed for the prediction of ultimate load. The modified equation includes the effects of slenderness ratio, amount of vertical steel, and aspect ratio. The results predicted by the proposed modified method and five other available equations are compared with 48 test data. The proposed modified equation is found to be satisfactory and, additionally, includes the effect of aspect ratio which is not present in other methods.

Chronopotentiometry with power-law perturbation functions at an expanding plane electrode with and without a preceding blank period for systems with a coupled first-order homogeneous chemical reaction

The systems formalism is used to obtain the interfacial concentration transients for power-law current input at an expanding plane electrode. The explicit results for the concentration transients obtained here pertain to arbitrary homogeneous reaction schemes coupled to the oxidant and reductant of a single charge-transfer step and the power-law form without and with a preceding blank period (for two types of power-law current profile, say, (i) I(t) = I0(t−t0)q for t greater-or-equal, slanted t0, I(t) = 0 for t < t0; and (ii) I(t) = I0tq for t greater-or-equal, slanted t0, I(t) = 0 for t < t0). Finally the potential transients are obtained using Padé approximants. The results of Galvez et al. (for E, CE, EC, aC) (J. Electroanal. Chem., 132 (1982) 15; 146 (1983) 221, 233, 243), Molina et al. (for E) (J. Electroanal. Chem., 227 (1987) 1 and Kies (for E) (J. Electroanal. Chem., 45 (1973) 71) are obtained as special cases.

Slip line field analysis of a simple plane strain closed‐die forging

A slip line field is proposed for symmetrical single‐cavity closed‐die forging by rough dies. A compatible velocity field is shown to exist. Experiments were conducted using lead workpiece and rough dies. Experimentally observed flow and load were used to validate the proposed slip line field. The slip line field was used to simulate the process in the computer with the objective of studying the influence of flash geometry on cavity filling.

On the investigation of singular stress field around radial cracks in annulii subjected to diametrical tension

Results of photoelastic investigation conducted on annulii containing a radial crack at inner edge and subjected to diametrical tension are reported. The cracks are oriented at 90°, 60° and 45° to the loading direction. The Stress-Intensity Factors (SIFs) were determined by analysing the crack-tip stress fields. Smith and Smith's method [Engng Fracture Mech.4, 357–366 (1972)] and a modified method developed earlier by the authors (to be published) were adopted in the evaluation of SIFs.

Mixed-mode stress intensity factors for arbitrarily oriented cracks in cylindrical shells under axial pull and torsion

Results of photoelastic investigations conducted on cylindrical tubes (made of Araldite material) containing cracks oriented at 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° to the axis of the tube and subjected to axial and torsional loads are reported. The stress-intensity factors (SIFs) were determined by analysing the crack-tip stress fields. Smith and Smith's method [Engng Fracture Mech.4, 357–366 (1972)] and a new method developed by the authors by modifying Rakesh et al.'s method [Proc. 26th Congress of ISTAM, India (1981)] were employed to evaluate the mixed-mode SIFs.

Induction of allergen-specific IgE and IgG responses by anti-idiotypic antibodies

In order to explore idiotypic, anti-idiotypic, and anti-anti-idiotypic responses to allergens, BALB/c mice were immunized with affinity- purified human idiotypic antibodies directed against a highly purified shrimp allergen. This resulted in the production of anti-idiotypic antibodies which were quantitated by using rabbit idiotypic antibodies raised against the same purified allergen. The mouse anti-idiotypic antibodies recognized shrimp-specific human idiotypic antibodies of the IgE isotype from 18 of 20 individuals, and IgG antibodies from 14 of 20 shrimp-sensitive patients. Immunization of BALB/c mice with affinity- purified, allergen-specific anti-idiotypic antibodies induced anti- allergen IgE and IgG responses in the absence of the allergen. This paper thus presents evidence that anti-idiotypic antibodies raised against allergen-specific idiotypic antibodies may substitute for the original allergen in the induction of allergen-specific idiotypic antibodies. The demonstration of shared idiotopes on IgG and IgE antibodies in the sera of shrimp-sensitive patients supports the use of allergen-specific anti-idiotypic antibodies as surrogate allergens.

The hard-particle model for a dense granular flow down an inclined plane

Perfectly hard particles are those which experience an infinite repulsive force when they overlap, and no force when they do not overlap. In the hard-particle model, the only static state is the isostatic state where the forces between particles are statically determinate. In the flowing state, the interactions between particles are instantaneous because the time of contact approaches zero in the limit of infinite particle stiffness. Here, we discuss the development of a hard particle model for a realistic granular flow down an inclined plane, and examine its utility for predicting the salient features both qualitatively and quantitatively. We first discuss Discrete Element simulations, that even very dense flows of sand or glass beads with volume fraction between 0.5 and 0.58 are in the rapid flow regime, due to the very high particle stiffness. An important length scale in the shear flow of inelastic particles is the `conduction length' delta = (d/(1 - e(2))(1/2)), where d is the particle diameter and e is the coefficient of restitution. When the macroscopic scale h (height of the flowing layer) is larger than the conduction length, the rates of shear production and inelastic dissipation are nearly equal in the bulk of the flow, while the rate of conduction of energy is O((delta/h)(2)) smaller than the rate of dissipation of energy. Energy conduction is important in boundary layers of thickness delta at the top and bottom. The flow in the boundary layer at the top and bottom is examined using asymptotic analysis. We derive an exact relationship showing that the a boundary layer solution exists only if the volume fraction in the bulk decreases as the angle of inclination is increased. In the opposite case, where the volume fraction increases as the angle of inclination is increased, there is no boundary layer solution. The boundary layer theory also provides us with a way of understanding the cessation of flow when at a given angle of inclination when the height of the layer is decreased below a value h(stop), which is a function of the angle of inclination. There is dissipation of energy due to particle collisions in the flow as well as due to particle collisions with the base, and the fraction of energy dissipation in the base increases as the thickness decreases. When the shear production in the flow cannot compensate for the additional energy drawn out of the flow due to the wall collisions, the temperature decreases to zero and the flow stops. Scaling relations can be derived for h(stop) as a function of angle of inclination.