Dissolution or disillusion: the unravelling of civil partnerships

This chapter considers the following questions: • Why did more men register a civil partnership initially than women? • Why has the gender ratio equalised? • Why have women dissolved their civil partnership at a consistently higher rate than men? • What has happened to the argument that same-sex unions will be different from, or better than (with its assumption of longer-lasting), heterosexual unions?

A multi-level analysis of innovation diffusion: The case of solar photovoltaic systems in Germany and the disillusion of grid parity

¿Suministrarán las fuentes de energía renovables toda la energía que el mundo necesita algún día? Algunos argumentan que sí, mientras que otros dicen que no. Sin embargo, en algunas regiones del mundo, la producción de electricidad a través de fuentes de energía renovables ya está en una etapa prometedora de desarrollo en la que su costo de generación de electricidad compite con fuentes de electricidad convencionales, como por ejemplo la paridad de red. Este logro ha sido respaldado por el aumento de la eficiencia de la tecnología, la reducción de los costos de producción y, sobre todo, los años de intervenciones políticas de apoyo financiero. La difusión de los sistemas solares fotovoltaicos (PV) en Alemania es un ejemplo relevante. Alemania no sólo es el país líder en términos de capacidad instalada de sistemas fotovoltaicos (PV) en todo el mundo, sino también uno de los países pioneros donde la paridad de red se ha logrado recientemente. No obstante, podría haber una nube en el horizonte. La tasa de difusión ha comenzado a declinar en muchas regiones. Además, las empresas solares locales – que se sabe son importantes impulsores de la difusión – han comenzado a enfrentar dificultades para manejar sus negocios. Estos acontecimientos plantean algunas preguntas importantes: ¿Es ésta una disminución temporal en la difusión? ¿Los adoptantes continuarán instalando sistemas fotovoltaicos? ¿Qué pasa con los modelos de negocio de las empresas solares locales? Con base en el caso de los sistemas fotovoltaicos en Alemania a través de un análisis multinivel y dos revisiones literarias complementarias, esta tesis doctoral extiende el debate proporcionando riqueza múltiple de datos empíricos en un conocimiento de contexto limitado. El primer análisis se basa en la perspectiva del adoptante, que explora el nivel "micro" y el proceso social que subyace a la adopción de los sistemas fotovoltaicos. El segundo análisis es una perspectiva a nivel de empresa, que explora los modelos de negocio de las empresas y sus roles impulsores en la difusión de los sistemas fotovoltaicos. El tercero análisis es una perspectiva regional, la cual explora el nivel "meso", el proceso social que subyace a la adopción de sistemas fotovoltaicos y sus técnicas de modelado. Los resultados incluyen implicaciones tanto para académicos como políticos, no sólo sobre las innovaciones en energía renovable relativas a la paridad de red, sino también, de manera inductiva, sobre las innovaciones ambientales impulsadas por las políticas que logren la competitividad de costes. ABSTRACT Will renewable energy sources supply all of the world energy needs one day? Some argue yes, while others say no. However, in some regions of the world, the electricity production through renewable energy sources is already at a promising stage of development at which their electricity generation costs compete with conventional electricity sources’, i.e., grid parity. This achievement has been underpinned by the increase of technology efficiency, reduction of production costs and, above all, years of policy interventions of providing financial support. The diffusion of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Germany is an important frontrunner case in point. Germany is not only the top country in terms of installed PV systems’ capacity worldwide but also one of the pioneer countries where the grid parity has recently been achieved. However, there might be a cloud on the horizon. The diffusion rate has started to decline in many regions. In addition, local solar firms – which are known to be important drivers of diffusion – have started to face difficulties to run their businesses. These developments raise some important questions: Is this a temporary decline on diffusion? Will adopters continue to install PV systems? What about the business models of the local solar firms? Based on the case of PV systems in Germany through a multi-level analysis and two complementary literature reviews, this PhD Dissertation extends the debate by providing multiple wealth of empirical details in a context-limited knowledge. The first analysis is based on the adopter perspective, which explores the “micro” level and the social process underlying the adoption of PV systems. The second one is a firm-level perspective, which explores the business models of firms and their driving roles in diffusion of PV systems. The third one is a regional perspective, which explores the “meso” level, i.e., the social process underlying the adoption of PV systems and its modeling techniques. The results include implications for both scholars and policymakers, not only about renewable energy innovations at grid parity, but also in an inductive manner, about policy-driven environmental innovations that achieve the cost competiveness.

XBRL:an (open) source of enlightenment or disillusion?

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is being adopted by European regulators as a data standard for the exchange of business information. This paper examines the approach of XBRL International (XII) to the meta-data standard's development and diffusion. We theorise the development of XBRL using concepts drawn from a model of successful open source projects. Comparison of the open source model to XBRL enables us to identify a number of interesting similarities and differences. In common with open source projects, the benefits and progress of XBRL have been overstated and 'hyped' by enthusiastic participants. While XBRL is an open data standard in terms of access to the equivalent of its 'source code' we find that the governance structure of the XBRL consortium is significantly different to a model open source approach. The barrier to participation that is created by requiring paid membership and a focus on transacting business at physical conferences and meetings is identified as particularly critical. Decisions about the technical structure of XBRL, the regulator-led pattern of adoption and the organisation of XII are discussed. Finally areas for future research are identified.

Sob o Signo do Logro : a Mulher e o Amor na Ficção Queirosiana

Centrada na obra de Eça de Queirós, a presente dissertação tem como principal finalidade perceber de que forma o logro, a desilusão e a solidão se encontram associados à imagem da Mulher e à temática do Amor. Assim, partindo de uma análise às personagens femininas dos romances deste escritor, chegamos a temas como as “máscaras” do indivíduo na socie-dade, as quais estão intimamente ligadas à hipocrisia, à mentira e, por vezes, ao ridículo. Será este o fio condutor que percorrerá todo o texto, ligando os assuntos supracitados a questões tão abrangentes como a interrogação identitária, decorrente da projeção do Eu no Outro, ou os valores da sociedade oitocentista, onde as mulheres assumem um papel cen-tral – para o melhor e para o pior.

Origine et évolution de la réhabilitation psychosociale

The main historical stages of the social rehabilitation of the mentally-ill patients show that the psychiatric hospital centred approach has been progressively cast off and therefore the creation of intermediate institutions and ambulatory care integrated in the city has been favoured. This has allowed the progressive development of the psychosocial rehabilitation. This reorientation of the medical practice towards the community was based on two specific and corollary approaches: the deinstitutionalisation and the rehabilitation, which have the common objective to facilitate the return of the patient in the natural social community. The psychosocial rehabilitation includes the deinstitutionalisation and the return to the community, in a holistic approach aiming at compensating for the psychosocial handicap induced by the mental illness. The concept of the psychosocial rehabilitation itself has been progressively elaborated over time. The initial enthusiasm was followed by a period of progressive disillusion, which was finally followed by the development of the psychosocial rehabilitation as a true specific clinical discipline, a topic in medical education and in scientific research

Letter - Mrs. Olive Diefenbaker to Sean O'Sullivan, 6 December 1966

A handwritten letter from Olive Diefenbaker to Sean O'Sullivan, 6 December 1966. Mrs. Diefenbaker remarks about a phone call she received from a Hamiltonian who had met O'Sullivan at "the Convention" and had "'tried to help him over his disillusion"'. Mrs. Diefenbaker took offense to the comments and responded to the individual "I wouldn't worry about Sean. He is mature and wise, and will think his way through like the rest of us".

Le processus suivi par les pairs aidants lors de leur expérience auprès d’adolescents suicidaires

Depuis plusieurs années, on assiste à la création de programmes en prévention du suicide à l’adolescence. L’un de ces programmes repose sur le principe des pairs aidants. Il consiste à former des jeunes dont le rôle est d’apporter du soutien à des camarades qui vivent des difficultés. Or, à notre connaissance, aucune étude n’a comme préoccupation spécifique l’aide apportée par un pair aidant à un élève suicidaire. C’est pourquoi le but de notre étude est de comprendre et d’interpréter le processus suivi par les pairs aidants lors de leur expérience auprès d’un adolescent suicidaire. Nous avons effectué des entrevues auprès de cinq anciens pairs aidants qui avaient joué ce rôle entre une et trois années auparavant. À cause de sa pertinence pour ce type d’étude, l’approche méthodologique choisie a été la théorisation ancrée. La proposition qui a émergé de l’analyse des données est que l’expérience de pairs aidants auprès d’adolescents suicidaires est une mission héroïque à la fois stimulante, « confrontante » et enrichissante. Pour rendre compte de la globalité de cette expérience, vécue comme une mission invitant le pair aidant à prendre un rôle de « héros », trois étapes ont été distinguées. La première étape commence par l’accès au statut de pair aidant. Après être entré en contact avec un camarade suicidaire, le pair aidant s’engage dans la mission de le sauver. Le pair aidant est alors « tout feu tout flamme » dans son rôle de héros sauveur. Au cours de la seconde étape seront considérés les faits entourant la mission. L’aide s’engage comme un combat pour « sauver » l’élève suicidaire. L’enthousiasme « tout feu tout flamme » du début se tempère dans l’ambivalence du combat que représente l’aide concrète. C’est la période d’une certaine désillusion. La dernière étape s’amorce après que soit terminée l’aide qu’a fournie le pair aidant. Il fait le point sur les victoires et les défaites qu’a comportées cette mission. C’est alors le moment de la sagesse. Au cours de l’analyse, certaines données ont suscité la réflexion. Nous avons donc effectué une seconde recension des écrits reliés au processus de venir en aide à un adolescent suicidaire en tant que pair aidant. À la fin de cette étude, nous pensons que le programme de pairs aidants a des répercussions positives pour l’adolescent impliqué.

Le chez-soi et la construction des identités géographiques individuelles : habiter en communauté fermée à São Paulo (Brésil)

Ce mémoire propose d’aborder la relation entre le chez-soi et la construction des identités géographiques. Plus précisément, il s’agit de se pencher sur l’importance que revêt cette dimension intime et familière de l’habitat dans la part des identités qui mobilise les lieux, territoires et paysages comme référents. S’interroger à cet égard s’avère d’autant plus pertinent aujourd’hui, dans un contexte de fragmentation socio-spatiale à l’échelle urbaine et de prolifération d’enclaves résidentielles qui témoignent d’un enfermement et d’une introversion de l’habitat. Nous abordons la question à travers le cas du projet AlphaVille São Paulo (Brésil), un large développement résidentiel composé de plusieurs communautés fermées. Les entretiens semi-directifs réalisés auprès de onze habitants de ce projet permettent de confirmer l’importance du chez-soi dans leur construction identitaire. En effet, le chez-soi en communauté fermée représente l’aboutissement d’un parcours géographique et permet au regard des habitants rencontrés une expérience de l’espace résidentiel qui s’approche de celle qu’ils ont connue au cours de l’enfance et qu’ils ont perdue à mesure que la ville s’est transformée en un milieu de plus en plus hostile. Ainsi, il leur permet dans une certaine mesure de revivre un idéal perdu. Néanmoins, habiter en communauté fermée contraint les territorialités : au sein de la métropole, le chez-soi fait figure de refuge. Il n’en demeure pas moins que les réponses des résidents révèlent une conscience que leur choix d’habitat constitue en quelque sorte une fuite de la réalité. Ainsi, ils entretiennent à l’égard de leur milieu de vie une relation qui oscille entre illusion et désillusion.

Prowess, the Nine Worthies and the Hundred Years War: the Prologues to the Chroniques of Jean Froissart and Enguerrand de Monstrelet

An analysis of the evolution of the image of chivalry in the successive redactions of the Prologue to Froissart's Chroniques, focussing on the figures of the Nine Worthies as models of behaviour for young noblemen. This is then compared and contrasted with the prologue written by his continuator, Enguerrand de Monstrelet, whose work betrays a shift in sensibilities that expresses itself, inter alia, by a near-total absence of the Worthies in his Chronique. Close textual analysis suggests that the two choniclers shared a comparable sense of disillusion, though expressed in different ways.

A importância do objeto transicional no desenvolvimento psíquico sadio

O objeto transicional é um mediador entre mãe e filho, eu e não-eu, mundo interno e mundo externo. A mãe suficientemente boa permitirá esse objeto e através dele a criança passará de um estado de ilusão para um estado de desilusão, do relacionar-se com o objeto para o uso do objeto. A passagem do princípio do prazer para o princípio da realidade permitida pela mãe boa, através de uma adaptação ativa com a criança facilitará uma capacidade do brincar criativo num espaço potencial. O jogo com as pessoas onde haverá amigos e inimigos somente se realizará através desse brincar criativo. Para que exista um desenvolvimento do processo de separação- individualização é necessário a existência de um objeto transicional em sua forma saudável como um acalmador da ansiedade. Daí a importância da disponibilidade da mãe e do objeto transicional para que todo o desenvolvimento psíquico saudável se realize; a importância de uma continuidade no cuidado e uma consequente confiança na mãe para que possa ser bem suportada a sua ausência; e para que no processo de dependência para o rumo à independência a criança possa seguir segura e feliz por essa separação ou independência da mãe e filho ao mesmo tempo. Caso isto não ocorra de uma forma saudável, isto e, se a mãe ou o ambiente não for suficientemente bom, pode haver o desenvolvimento, na criança e posteriormente no adulto, de um objeto transicional sendo o próprio corpo e mais tarde uma idéia fixa. O que é mais importante nisso tudo é que o objeto transicional exista e seja permitido em toda a sua plenitude sem interrupções. O processo deve realizar-se até o final, isto é, até que o objeto perca simplesmente o seu significado e não esquecido ou reprimido. Que fique reduzido somente ao nível de significante. O tempo que ele durará vai variar de criança para criança, de mãe para mãe, de meio para meio. E isto não terá muita importância. O que terá importância será somente que a ele seja permitido existir e se o processo for concluído a criança terá um desenvolvimento psíquico saudável e poderá, pela vida afora,confiar em si mesma e nas pessoas que a rodeiam. Poderá ser um "ser total" pronto para encarar e enfrentar o mundo externo.

Maternidade na adolescência: significados e repercussões

From evidence of an existing divergence of opinion among professionals and adolescents using the prenatal and delivery services at a Public Health Unit, aimed to study meanings and consequences of adolescent motherhood among 26 adolescent mothers living in Felipe Camarão, low income district of Natal, capital do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Living in a peripheral neighbourhood with a high rate of adolescent mothers in relation to the total new-born, those girls, with offspring among 8 and 12 months age, during interview and focus groups, expressed a different appreciation of their experience than the hegemonic idea among professionals that considers pregnancy and motherhood as unwanted or undesired. With age among 15 and 20 years old, having 53,8% initiated sexual activity before being 15 years old, revealed that the pregnancy was desired in 73,1% of cases, but showing at the same time a social context marked by strong gender oppression and lack of opportunities as consequence of social class deprivation. Life projects, almost always limited to the constitution of a traditional nuclear family, with a purveyor father and care giver mother, appears with very limited possibilities: 46,2% already lived with her partner before becoming pregnant and for 50% of the participants, the birth of the child did not provoke changes in plans and projects. Lack of economical recourses and precarious public services available, together with an idealized maternity role seems to produce extra apprehension among those girls, resulting in frustration and disillusion. As a fact, 92,3% of those adolescents would recommend other adolescent to postpone the maternity project

Sexo não é brincadeira: o sentido de infância para adolescentes inseridas na exploração sexual comercial

The childhood has being highlighted by the great concern about the several contexts in which children are inserted, amongst them, commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). The experience of this violence process brings implications to the person constitution. Thus, this research aimed to understand how commercial sexual exploited adolescents to signify the childhood. Participated of this research four female adolescents that had been assisted by Programa de enfrentamento ao Abuso e Exploração Sexual de Crianças e Adolescentes (Sentinela) , with ages between 12 and 17 years. The corpus was composed by the combination of the semi-structured interview and other procedures, like childish stories, draws and photography. Moreover, we used another instruments to constitute the corpus, like the documental research and we proposed the construction of a life story book of each participant. The corpus was analyzed through the Thematic Content Analysis. Five thematic axes emerged from the participants discourse and theoretical perspective: dynamical of family, scholar process, ludic behavior, conception of childhood and insertion on CSE process. The participants presented a conception about childhood as been a preparation and education phase to ingress in adult life. In other words, while children do not grown up, they go to the school, plays, lives with family, are happy and do not have any responsibilities. Nevertheless, the life experience of these girls was implicated by negligence, sexual abuse, child labor, institutionalization and, evidently, the commercial sexual exploitation. Understanding that the childhood experienced by adolescent, as well as, her insertion on CSECA, constitutes her, while person, we investigated how the interrelation expresses it on participants future perspectives. Their goals are defined based on family constitution and professional improvement, although feelings of disillusion and pessimism had been showed up in some moments. According these results, we pointed to the necessity of the effective proposals that promote real improvement of adolescents life quality, through, in which they could to create alternatives to get over the several risks in which they are exposed, mainly, the CSECA condition

Brincar é coisa séria?: um estudo do brinquedo na cultura da modernidade

O trabalho investiga o brinquedo enquanto elemento da cultura material e simbólica objetivando discutir suas mudanças e significados na cultura da modernidade diante da globalização da indústria cultural. Foca essa discussão em quatro categorias de brinquedos: tradicional, industrial, regional e virtual, que atualmente compõem o ato de brincar. Tem como hipótese principal a assertiva de que há uma apropriação no brincar de valores, crenças, hábitos, ética, sistema de linguagem e materiais de uma dada cultura, na medida em que os brinquedos estão intimamente relacionados ao que está acontecendo na sociedade, suas ideologias e valores. E ainda que ao manusear um brinquedo a criança possui entre as mãos uma imagem que permite ações e manipulações em harmonia com as representações sugeridas pela indústria de bens culturais. Pensa o brinquedo na cultura da modernidade como um produto mercantilizado em que suas imagens, significados e simbologias são reflexos do olhar da sociedade para a infância. Utiliza como campo empírico do brincar, São Luís do Maranhão, como um lugar para perceber as mudanças, e como sujeitos da pesquisa, crianças de duas situações sócio-econômicas diferentes, pais de quatro grupos diversos, lojistas e artesãos. Utiliza como método o dialético e como tipo de pesquisa, a qualitativa. Apresenta como resultado a constatação de que o brinquedo na cultura da modernidade dispõe de um potencial de sedução produzido por um fetichismo do produto para o consumo, que é globalizado, com perfil, funções e significados para se adequar a todos os universos infantis dos diversos lugares; consequentemente enfrenta a inevitável característica de equilibrar o global e o regional. Conclui que a cultura da modernidade trouxe perdas e ganhos para o ato de brincar na passagem do modelo artesanal de produção para o industrial, no contexto moderno de pasteurização do “étnico”, do “original”, do “exótico”. Conclui ainda que as mudanças que percebemos no brinquedo nas últimas quatro décadas do século XX não estão limitadas a ele, mas a um sistema que foi instituído e que implica em transformação, concernentes à cultura popular infantil e, além disso, ao lugar da criança na cultura da modernidade.

Pesquisa em Educação Ambiental: compromisso com a vida

Different environmental disasters registered around the world and their consequences to nature and to the biodiversity, including the human beings, lead us to deal with nature’s mysteries and with our limits In controlling technological apparatus that make us proud enough to think that we can control nature’s processes. These kinds of experiences, considered as a real “being-event”, make us experiment processes of disillusion related to the possibilities of science and technology. Considering this frame and the historical human experiences, one fundamental question is related to our position, our professional and ethical commitments and our responsibilities facing this reality. How can we deal with these facts that are continuously announcing the limits of nature, of science, technologies and our self-limits? As researchers involved with environmental education, it seems plausible for us to ask about the ethical commitments related to our “acts” of investigation. So, considering different and stimulating possibilities opened by intellectual and philosophers who are adding significant contributions to these debates, my proposal for this essay is to invite environmental education researchers to carry on a dialog involving these questions with some perspectives proposed specially by Bakhtin (1895 – 1975) and some other authors affiliated or not to his approach. This seems to be an opportunity which allows us to realize that our commitments as environmental education researchers would be identified with our commitments with life

Smashing the Mirror of Yamato: Sakaguchi Ango, Decadence & a Postmetaphysical Buddhist Critique of Culture

This article focuses on several key philosophical themes in the criticism of Sakaguchi Ango (1906–1955), one of postwar Japan’s most influential and controversial writers. Associated with the underground Kasutori culture as well as the Burai-ha of Tamura Taijirō (1911–1983), Oda Sakunosuke (1913–1947) and Dazai Osamu (1909–1948), Ango gained fame for two provocative essays on the theme of daraku or “decadence”—Darakuron and Zoku darakuron—pubished in 1946, in the wake of Japan’s traumatic defeat and the beginnings of the Allied Occupation. Less well-known is the fact that Ango spent his student years studying classical Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan, and that he at at one time aspired to the priesthood. The article analyses the concept of daraku in the two essays noted above, particularly as it relates to Ango’s vision of a refashioned morality based on an interpretation of human subjectivity vis-à-vis the themes of illusion and disillusion. It argues that, despite the radical and modernist flavor of Ango’s essays, his “decadence” is best understood in terms of Mahāyāna and Zen Buddhist concepts. Moreover, when the two essays on decadence are read in tandem with Ango’s wartime essay on Japanese culture (Nihon bunka shikan, 1942), they form the foundation for a “postmetaphysical Buddhist critique of culture,” one that is pragmatic, humanistic, and non-reductively physicalist.