Le standpoint theory : en faveur d’une nouvelle méthode épistémologique

Cet article est avant tout une présentation générale du standpoint theory mais vise tout particulièrement à souligner la relation épistémologique qui unit cette théorie féministe à la théorie marxiste. Ainsi il y sera démontré que l’expérience de l’oppression, et donc de la souffrance qui l’accompagne, est en mesure de représenter un avantage épistémique que les groupes subissant l’oppression peuvent tourner à leur avantage. Il sera donc question d’un nouveau type d’objectivité délaissant le concept de neutralité en faveur d’une subjectivité pleinement assumée.

La béatitude selon Maître Eckhart : exposition d’une négation de la nature

La présente étude se veut une exposition du rapport entre l’éthique et la nature, tel qu’il se retrouve développé dans des extraits représentatifs des traités et sermons en langue vernaculaire de Maître Eckhart de Hochheim. Néoplatonicien notamment de par son ancrage explicite dans la tradition augustinienne, Maître Eckhart présente une conception de la béatitude – du bonheur, de l’accomplissement – accessible à l’homme comme inséparable d’un processus de détachement vis-à-vis de la nature comprise comme création. L’accomplissement de l’âme humaine, en sa qualité d’intellect, est en effet à trouver dans l’union immédiate à Dieu, laquelle ne peut être atteinte qu’à travers l’évacuation complète de tout rapport à la réalité finie du monde créé. Il sera donc ici question de mettre en relief le complexe rapport qu’entretient avec le créé l’homme en tant qu’il possède une nature double et les conséquences de ce nécessaire détachement sur la compréhension eckhartienne de l’éthique.

Bergson, Heidegger et la question du possible: le renversement d’une conception classique

Quel est le statut ontologique du « possible » et du « réel » ? Sous l’angle de la substance, de la notion et du temps, l’un prend-il le pas sur l’autre, l’un est-il prioritaire ? Alors qu’Aristote et Hegel ont défendu l’idée que le réel jouit d’une primauté sur le possible, Heidegger et Bergson ont avancé la thèse inverse : ils ont laissé entendre que le possible a préséance sur le réel. Le dessein que nous poursuivrons ici possède deux volets : d’une part, nous chercherons à souligner la distance qui sépare le couple Aristote/Hegel de la pensée heideggérienne sur la question du possible ; d’autre part, et en particulier, nous tâcherons de montrer que si la thèse que soutient Bergson s’éloigne en apparence largement de la conception classique, elle la rejoint malgré tout à bien des égards.

Critique d’une interprétation temporelle de la logique déontique

Ce texte se veut une analyse critique de l'approche de Thomason (1981) quant à la logique déontique. Alors que l'auteur défend que celle-ci doit être formalisée dans le cadre des logiques temporelles, nous soutenons que la temporalité est implicite à l'obligation, et de fait que la logique déontique n'a pas a être traitée dans la cadre d'une logique temporelle. Nous présenterons d'abord la position de Thomason. Il sera question des exemples dont l'auteur se sert pour justifier son point de vue philosophique et du modèle sémantique qu'il propose pour rendre compte de l'obligation. Il sera ensuite sujet d'une critique des exemples de l'auteur et de son modèle sémantique.

Logique et Sémantique : Critique d’une interprétation non‐standard de la logique déontique

Ce texte porte sur l’analyse sémantique de la logique déontique. Nous analyserons de façon critique un texte de Schotch (1981) portant sur une interprétation de la logique déontique dans le cadre d’une sémantique non-kripkéenne. Nous laisserons de côté les choix relatifs à la syntaxe de son système afin de se concentrer sur l’analyse sémantique qu’il expose contre la logique déontique et sur celle qu’il propose en retour. Avant de voir le détail de son raisonnement, nous présenterons brièvement quelques notions de logique modale afin de faciliter la compréhension de l’argument de Schotch. Nous présenterons ensuite l’argument de l’auteur contre la logique déontique afin de pouvoir exposer sa solution, ce qui ouvrira la porte à une lecture critique de son analyse.

Microalgal vegetation in the selected Mangrove Ecosystem of Kerala.

Department of Marine Biology, Cochin University of Science & Technology

Environmental impact of sand mining

This thesis Entitled Environmental impact of Sand Mining :A case Study in the river catchments of vembanad lake southwest india.The entire study is addressed in nine chapters. Chapter l deals with the general introduction about rivers, problems of river sand mining, objectives, location of the study area and scope of the study. A detailed review on river classification, classic concepts in riverine studies, geological work of rivers and channel processes, importance of river ecosystems and its need for management are dealt in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 gives a comprehensive account of the study area - its location, administrative divisions, physiography, soil, geology, land use and living and non-living resources. The various methods adopted in the study are dealt in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 contains river characteristics like drainage, environmental and geologic setting, channel characteristics, river discharge and water quality of the study area. Chapter 6 gives an account of river sand mining (instream and floodplain mining) from the study area. The various environmental problems of river sand mining on the land adjoining the river banks, river channel, water, biotic and social / human environments of the area and data interpretation are presented in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 deals with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) of sand mining from the river catchments of Vembanad lake.

Settlement Of Reinforced Sand In Foundations

The technique of reinforcing soil for foundation improvement is well established. This paper addresses the aspect of settlement of reinforced sand foundations, where the major part of the existing work deals with the aspect of bearing capacity. A detailed analysis is made paying individual attention to soil, reinforcement, and the interface between the two. A three-dimensional, nonlinear finite-element analysis is presented that uses a three-dimensional, nonlinear soil-reinforcement interface friction element, along with other threedimensional elements to model the system. The results of the analysis are compared with those from tests conducted in the laboratory and are found to be in good agreement. The studies lead to a better understanding of the behavior of the system at different stages of loading

The role of ligneous vegetation for livestock nutrition in the sub-Sahelian and Sudanian zones of West Africa: Potential effects of climate change

Climate change and variability in sub-Saharan West Africa is expected to have negative consequences for crop and livestock farming due to the strong dependence of these sectors on rainfall and natural resources, and the low adaptive capacity of crops farmers, agro-pastoralist and pastoralists in the region. The objective of this PhD research was to investigate the anticipated impacts of expected future climate change and variability on nutrition and grazing management of livestock in the prevailing extensive agro-pastoral and pastoral systems of the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of Burkina Faso. To achieve this, three studies were undertaken in selected village territories (100 km² each) in the southern Sahelian (Taffogo), northern Sudanian (Nobere, Safane) and southern Sudanian (Sokouraba) zone of the country during 2009 and 2010. The choice of two villages in the northern Sudanian zone was guided by the dichotomy between intense agricultural land use and high population density near Safane, and lower agricultural land use in the tampon zone between the village of Nobere and the National Park Kaboré Tambi of Pô. Using global positioning and geographical information systems tools, the spatio-temporal variation in the use of grazing areas by cattle, sheep and goats, and in their foraging behaviour in the four villages was assessed by monitoring three herds each per species during a one-year cycle (Chapter 2). Maximum itinerary lengths (km/d) were observed in the hot dry season (March-May); they were longer for sheep (18.8) and cattle (17.4) than for goats (10.5, p<0.05). Daily total grazing time spent on pasture ranged from 6 - 11 h with cattle staying longer on pasture than small ruminants (p<0.05). Feeding time accounted for 52% - 72% of daily time on pasture, irrespective of species. Herds spent longer time on pasture and walked farther distances in the southern Sahelian than the two Sudanian zones (p<0.01), while daily feeding time was longer in the southern Sudanian than in the other two zones (p>0.05). Proportional time spent resting decreased from the rainy (June - October) to the cool (November - February) and hot dry season (p<0.05), while in parallel the proportion of walking time increased. Feeding time of all species was to a significantly high proportion spent on wooded land (tree crown cover 5-10%, or shrub cover >10%) in the southern Sahelian zone, and on forest land (tree crown cover >10%) in the two Sudanian zones, irrespective of season. It is concluded that with the expansion of cropland in the whole region, remaining islands of wooded land, including also fields fallowed for three or more years with their considerable shrub cover, are particularly valuable pasturing areas for ruminant stock. Measures must be taken that counteract the shrinking of wooded land and forests across the whole region, including also active protection and (re)establishment of drought-tolerant fodder trees. Observation of the selection behaviour of the above herds of cattle and small ruminant as far as browse species were concerned, and interviews with 75 of Fulani livestock keepers on use of browse as feed by their ruminant stock and as remedies for animal disease treatment was undertaken (Chapter 3) in order to evaluate the consequence of climate change for the contribution of browse to livestock nutrition and animal health in the extensive grazing-based livestock systems. The results indicated that grazing cattle and small ruminants do make considerable use of browse species on pasture across the studied agro-ecological zones. Goats spent more time (p<0.01) feeding on browse species than sheep and cattle, which spent a low to moderate proportion of their feeding time on browsing in any of the study sites. As far as the agro-ecological zones were concerned, the contribution of browse species to livestock nutrition was more important in the southern Sahelian and northern Sudanian zone than the southern Sudanian zone, and this contribution is higher during the cold and hot dry season than during the rainy season. A total of 75 browse species were selected on pasture year around, whereby cattle strongly preferred Afzelia africana, Pterocarpus erinaceus and Piliostigma sp., while sheep and goats primarily fed on Balanites aegyptiaca, Ziziphus mauritiana and Acacia sp. Crude protein concentration (in DM) of pods or fruits of the most important browse species selected by goats, sheep and cattle ranged from 7% to 13% for pods, and from 10% to 18% for foliage. The concentration of digestible organic matter of preferred browse species mostly ranged from 40% to 60%, and the concentrations of total phenols, condensed tannins and acid detergent lignin were low. Linear regression analyses showed that browse preference on pasture is strongly related to its contents (% of DM) of CP, ADF, NDF and OM digestibility. Interviewed livestock keepers reported that browse species are increasingly use by their grazing animals, while for animal health care use of tree- and shrub-based remedies decreased over the last two decades. It is concluded that due to climate change with expected negative impact on the productivity of the herbaceous layer of communal pastures browse fodder will gain in importance for animal nutrition. Therefore re-establishment and dissemination of locally adapted browse species preferred by ruminants is needed to increase the nutritional situation of ruminant stock in the region and contribute to species diversity and soil fertility restoration in degraded pasture areas. In Chapter 4 a combination of household surveys and participatory research approaches was used in the four villages, and additionally in the village of Zogoré (southern Sahelian zone) and of Karangasso Vigué (northern Sudanian zone) to investigate pastoralists’ (n= 76) and agro-pastoralists’ (n= 83) perception of climate change, and their adaptation strategies in crop and livestock production at farm level. Across the three agro-ecological zones, the majority of the interviewees perceived an increase in maximum day temperatures and decrease of total annual rainfall over the last two decades. Perceptions of change in climate patterns were in line with meteorological data for increased temperatures while for total rainfall farmers’ views contrasted the rainfall records which showed a slight increase of precipitation. According to all interviewees climate change and variability have negative impacts on their crop and animal husbandry, and most of them already adopted some coping and adaptation strategies at farm level to secure their livelihoods and reduce negative impacts on their farming system. Although these strategies are valuable and can help crop and livestock farmers to cope with the recurrent droughts and climate variability, they are not effective against expected extreme climate events. Governmental and non-governmental organisations should develop effective policies and strategies at local, regional and national level to support farmers in their endeavours to cope with climate change phenomena; measures should be site-specific and take into account farmers’ experiences and strategies already in place.

Interrelatedness of grazing livestock with vegetation parameters and farmers’ livelihoods in the Mahafaly region, southwestern Madagascar

The study aims to get deeper insight into the highly extensive system of animal husbandry in the Mahafaly region of southwestern Madagascar. It tries to understand the major drivers for pastoral dynamics, land and resource use along a gradient in altitude and vegetation to consider the area’s high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The study also analyzes the reproductive performance of local livestock as well as the owners’ culling strategies to determine herd dynamics, opportunities for economic growth, and future potential for rural development. Across seasons, plateau herds from both livestock species covered longer distances (cattle 13.6±3.02 km, goats 12.3±3.48 km) and were found further away from the settlements (cattle 3.1±0.96 km, goats 2.8±0.98 km) than those from the coastal plain (walking_dist: cattle 9.5±3.25 km, goats 9.2±2.57 km; max_dist: cattle 2.6±1.28 km, goats 1.8±0.61 km). Transhumant cattle were detected more vulnerable through limited access to pasture land and water resources compared to local herds. Seasonal water shortage has been confirmed as a key constraint on the plateau while livestock keeping along the coast is more limited by dry season forage availability. However, recent security issues and land use conflicts with local crop farmers are gaining importance and force livestock owners to adapt their traditional grazing management, resulting in spatio-temporal variation of livestock numbers and in the impending risk of local overgrazing and degradation of rangelands. Among the 133 plant species consumed by livestock, 13 were determined of major importance for the animals’ nutrition. The nutritive value and digestibility of the natural forage, as well as its abundance in the coastal zone, substantially decreased over the course of the dry season and emphasized the importance of supplementary forage plants, in particular Euphorbia stenoclada. At the same time, an unsustainable utilization and overexploitation of its wild stocks may raise the pressure on the vegetation and pasture resources within the nearby Tsimanampetsotsa National Park. Age at first parturition was 40.5±0.59 months for cattle and 21.3±0.63 months for goats. Both species showed long parturition intervals (cattle 24.2±0.48 months, goats 12.4±0.30 months), mostly due to the maintenance of poorly performing breeding females within the herds. Reported offspring mortality, however, was low with 2.5% of cattle and 18.8% of goats dying before reaching maturity. The analysis of economic information revealed higher than expected market dynamics, especially for zebus, resulting in annual contribution margins of 33 € per cattle unit and 11 € per goat unit. The application of the PRY Herd Life model to simulate herd development for present management and two alternate scenarios confirmed the economic profitability of the current livestock system and showed potential for further productive and economic development. However, this might be clearly limited by the region’s restricted carrying capacity. Summarizing, this study illustrates the highly extensive and resources-driven character of the livestock system in the Mahafaly region, with herd mobility being a central element to cope with seasonal shortages in forage and water. But additional key drivers and external factors are gaining importance and increasingly affect migration decisions and grazing management. This leads to an increased risk of local overgrazing and overexploitation of natural pasture resources and intensifies the tension between pastoral and conservation interests. At the same time, it hampers the region’s agronomic development, which has not yet been fully exploited. The situation therefore demonstrates the need for practical improvement suggestions and implication measures, such as the systematic forestation of supplemental forage plant species in the coastal zone or a stronger integration of animal husbandry and crop production, to sustain the traditional livestock system without compromising peoples’ livelihoods while at the same time minimizing the pastoral impact on the area’s unique nature and environment.

GRASS GIS for the distinction of vegetation from buildings using LiDAR altimetric data

La tecnología LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), basada en el escaneado del territorio por un telémetro láser aerotransportado, permite la construcción de Modelos Digitales de Superficie (DSM) mediante una simple interpolación, así como de Modelos Digitales del Terreno (DTM) mediante la identificación y eliminación de los objetos existentes en el terreno (edificios, puentes o árboles). El Laboratorio de Geomática del Politécnico de Milán – Campus de Como- desarrolló un algoritmo de filtrado de datos LiDAR basado en la interpolación con splines bilineares y bicúbicas con una regularización de Tychonov en una aproximación de mínimos cuadrados. Sin embargo, en muchos casos son todavía necesarios modelos más refinados y complejos en los cuales se hace obligatorio la diferenciación entre edificios y vegetación. Este puede ser el caso de algunos modelos de prevención de riesgos hidrológicos, donde la vegetación no es necesaria; o la modelización tridimensional de centros urbanos, donde la vegetación es factor problemático. (...)

La Mise en oeuvre préalable à la construction collaborative d’une séquence d’anglais à l’école élémentaire

La recherche présentée est issue d’une thèse en cours qui étudie la manière dont se nouent les relations entre les compétences culturelles et linguistiques au cours de séances de langue étrangère au cycle 3 de l’école primaire. Notre recherche s’appuie sur des données empiriques quantitatives et qualitatives et sur un cadre théorique articulant des concepts de didactique des langues et cultures (notamment, Aden, 2007; Gruson, 2007; Puren, 2002; Zarate, 1993), mais aussi de didactique des mathématiques dans une perspective comparatiste (entre autres, Brousseau, 1998; Sensevy, Mercier & Schubauer-Leoni, 2000; Sensevy & Mercier, 2007)

Las Jarretaderas, Nayarit, Mexico: a Social Interstice in Touristic Zona Metropolitana of Sun and Sand

The objective of the present article is to illustrate the social interstice (Las Jarretaderas) existing between the municipalities Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. The researched community is an outstanding case-study providing an in-depth analysis of a number of social process mostly related to the chiapaneca migration. The text is divided into two sections. The first one deals with the urbanization process of the metropolitan area of Puerto Vallarta. The second and longer section defines the concept of social interstice and explains how the researched locality falls under under that previously-defined concept according to the processes analyzed.