The robustness of a system indicates its ability to withstand disturbances while maintaining its properties, performance, and efficiency. There are plenty of studies on the robustness of air transport networks in the literature. However, few works consider its mesoscopic organization. Building on the recently introduced component structure, we explore the impact of targeted attacks on the weighted world air transportation network on its components. Indeed, it contains five local components covering different regions and one global component linking these regions. We (...) investigate targeted attacks based on influential weighted centrality measures. Results show that the local components gradually separate from the world air transportation network as the fraction of removed airports grows. The weighted betweenness attack removes fewer top airports to isolate the regions compared to its alternatives. Furthermore, it is still convenient to travel locally in the separate areas. In contrast, strength and PageRank attacks need to target more airports to split the network. However, they are more disruptive. Indeed, the size of the isolated local components reduces drastically, so it becomes more challenging to travel locally. Looking at the world air transportation network through its component structure reveals a new viewpoint on its resilence. It opens new perspectives to design more efficient attacks. (shrink)

We investigate whether religion acts as a deterrent to the types of mortgage misrepresentation that played a significant role in the recent housing boom and bust. Using a large sample of mortgages originated from 2000 to 2007, we provide evidence that local religious adherence is associated with a lower likelihood of home appraisal overstatement and owner occupancy misreporting. The evidence on borrower income misrepresentation is mixed. Religiosity does not appear to reduce the incidence of income misrepresentation; however, it seems to (...) restrain the degree to which income is misrepresented. Our results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that religion, as a set of social norms, fosters ethical behavior, and possibly risk aversion, in the mortgage market. (shrink)

Among the intellectuals who have significantly contributed to the discussion of Africa's place in the concert and/or shock of civilizations, Kwane Nkrumah, Cheikh Anta Diop, Samir Amin, Ali Mazrui, Amilcar Cabral could be found in a pertinent sampling. These different personalities indicate the linguistic and geographic diversity of a multidisciplinary and critical production.

In this paper, we are trying to summarize the peak of achievement of the Arabian logicians of the fifteenth century by making a classification and sketching in familiar terms the conditional and subjunctive syllogisms in Muḥammad Ibn Yusūf al-SSinūsī’s (1426-1490) work, i.e. in his explanation of Kitāb al-Muḫtaşar fī al-Manṭiq of al-Imām Muḥammad Ibn ʿArafa (1316- 1401).

The form of the conditional syllogism resembles that of the categorical syllogism, while its subject matter is at least a conditional premise, but its conclusion is always conditional conjunctive or disjunctive. This mixed structure to which we apply the rules of the categorical syllogism, is a structure of which Aristotle did not have an idea, and which the Stoics did not conceive, and which the non-Arabian logicians did not know until in modern times. But what we have to notice here (...) is the putting of a conditional matter in the form of the categorical syllogism, and it is this kind of hybridization, if we dare to say, which generated this mixed structure which appeared for the first time in the history of logic in the treatise on the logic of Ibn Sina and which can be considered a discovery by this author until proof to the contrary, and that the ancient Arabian logicians have taken the habit of exhibiting in their treatises. (shrink)

This chapter attempts to further the understanding of Sahelo‐Sudanic systems of slavery via enquiries into the daily life of slaves. This work is based on the memories of elders in certain villages within the zone of the ancient state of Kaarta and the buffer zone between it and the state of Segou, an area corresponding to the modern Malian administrative Cercles of Kolokani and Banamba. Temporally, the focus is on the period directly before the colonial era. In particular, the mode (...) of acquisition of slaves and the different types of local slavery are considered. (shrink)

BackgroundPeople say it is hard to stay truly positive in Lebanon. Studies showed that 63% of Lebanese young adults are highly dissatisfied with their country. In fact, young adults are the most vulnerable population to stressors in Lebanon since their future is at stake and it is their time to shape their lives in a country that cripples them. This study aimed to assess factors associated with positivity among a sample of Lebanese university students despite the various stressors they are (...) facing on top of the economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted between November and December 2021. A total of 333 participants was recruited through convenience sampling and snowball technique through several areas in Lebanon’s governorates. A linear regression taking the positivity score as the dependent variable was adopted and all variables that showed a correlation > │0.24│ in absolute value were entered in the final model as independent.ResultsA linear regression taking the positivity score as the dependent variable showed that more positive experiences in life, more flourishing, living in rural area compared to urban, and female gender were significantly associated with more positivity.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that the youth’s positivity is strongly affected by age, gender, residency, and the country they live in that will both directly and indirectly shape their life experiences and their ability to flourish and prosper. Along with all the efforts done to help during this collapse and alleviate the stress that young adults are enduring, follow-up studies are still needed to determine accurate coping techniques that pushes these young adults to think positively in a country where negativity reigns and all else fails. (shrink)

El propósito de este artículo es mostrar que el escrito medieval no posee el mismo estatuto ni los mismos valores que hoy en día y, a partir de ahí, reaccionar ante la oposición entre lo oral y lo escrito que se utiliza a propósito de la literatura árabe en sus comienzos. La tesis propuesta defiende que, hasta la segunda mitad, si no hasta el final del siglo III de la Hégira, los textos de adab, aunque compuestos y producidos por escrito, (...) lo habían sido en la idea de que su circulación, su comunicación y recepción se haría, en la mayor parte de los casos, oralmente. Es este fenómeno el que define el estatus del adab de sus «autores», y de la naturaleza de las obras que lo constituyen. (shrink)

This book explores feminine archetypes and mythological figures in African and European traditions with an underlying goal of describing the foundations of social status for women. The author provides a rich corpus of mythology and tales to illustrate aspects of female and mother-daughter relationships. Diop analyzes the symbolic aspects of maternity and femininity, describing the social meaning of the matrix, breasts, and breastfeeding. A retrospective of female characters in African literature brings an interesting approach to explore the figures of (...) femininity and maternity in society. After an extensive analysis of African mythology and tales, the author proposes a way to integrate them in the clinical psychotherapy as a projective material. The analysis of clinical cases offers an example of how this material can be used in therapy with women from African descent. (shrink)

Il s¿agit de poursuivre le travail de relecture du Kiláó al-Buhalá' consmencé dans larticle paru dans le Bulleíin dÉludes Orientales de Damas (LI 1999:"Avarice ou sophistique? Une lecture du Livre des ovares d'al-Gdisig"), travail qui pose que le propos du célébre polygraphe nesí pas tant la critique de lavarice, nu de la gueuserie (lmdya) dans le cas de Halib b. Yazid, que celle du détnumement des discours de leura fnnctions supposées nobles. Dans le récit "autobiographique" el le testament spirituel de (...) Ijálawayh al~MukaddI, ce qui se trouve mimé, parodié pnur étre dénigré, cesí, semble-t-il, la pratique des sermonnaires populaire> (Qu~sás), el, plus généralemení, celle des 'ulamá' qui prétendent éduquer les fonles. Larticle s'attache á analyser les procédés stylistiques et rhétoriques utilisés par al-Óálii~ pour vilipender ces usages dévoyés du discours. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn a bilingual educational setting, even when mathematical word problems are presented in one’s first language, students may still perform poorly if cognitive constraints such as working me...

RésuméLe problème de la détermination de la Qibla est l'une des questions cruciales qui se posent à la culture scientifique de l'Islam médiéval; le résoudre correctement nécessite tant des théories mathématiques que des observations. Les mathématiques relèvent de deux chapitres: la trigonométrie plane et la trigonométrie sphérique. L'observation et les instruments d'observation sont indispensables à la détermination des coordonnées géographiques de La Mecque et du lieu donné; ces coordonnées sont en effet les données que l'on entre dans les formules donnant (...) la Qibla. Dans son Almageste, Abū al-Wafāʾ résout brillamment ce problème. Son travail porte tant sur les mathématiques que sur l'observation; il obtient des solutions modernes, adéquates et faciles. En trigonométrie plane, il donne de nouvelles définitions des fonctions trigonométriques, démontre les formules des sinus, donne une approximation de sin 1° grâce à laquelle il construit des tables de sinus et de tangentes d'une grande précision. En trigonométrie sphérique, il démontre quatre nouveaux théorèmes dont la règle des tangentes ; cette règle lui permet de trouver, comme nous le montrerons, des solutions simples au problème de la détermination de la Qibla. En ce qui concerne les observations, il décrit trois instruments utilisés par lui plusieurs années de suite à Bagdad. Cet article, nourri de nombreux textes arabes originaux traduits et commentés, donne une description détaillée, technique et analytique, des méthodes mathématiques d'Abū al-Wafāʾ pour la détermination de la Qibla. (shrink)

In the Greek/Indian period, it is noticeable that different radii were used in connection with the chord. This manner continued in the Indian period with the sine, i.e. different sine tables existed. But throughout the Arabic-Islamic period, there was stability in the radius (for the sine). At the time of al-Batt new terms were introduced, not as functions of angles but as lengths, and again different tables for the same term. Here these terms were not bounded to the circle, and (...) the term miqythe radiusfunctions al-Waf’s time, there was an advancement by introducing the new terms as functions of angles, and they were immediately bounded to the circle, and instead of having two circles in the same figure, a kind of unity appeared, and again there was stability in the value of r, and therefore only one table for each function, and thus the new functions started to appear more abstract than practical as the sine did before, and this unity remained fixed in the modern times. (shrink)

Universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Chad was officially declared in December 2006. This presidential initiative was and is still funded 100% by the country’s budget and external donors’ financial support. Many factors have triggered the spread of AIDS. Some of these factors include the existence of norms and beliefs that create or increase exposure, the low-level education that precludes access to health information, social unrest, and population migration to areas of high economic opportunities and gender-based discrimination. Social forces (...) that influence the distribution of dimensions of well-being and shape risks for infection also determine the persistence of access barriers to ART. The universal access policy is quite revolutionary but should be informed by the systemic barriers to access so as to promote equity. It is not enough to distribute ARVs and provide health services when health systems are poorly organized and managed. Comprehensive access to ART raises many organizational, ethical and policy problems that need to be solved to achieve equity in access. This paper argues that the persistence of access barriers is due to weak health systems and a poor public health leadership. AIDS has challenged health systems in a manner that is essentially different from other health problems. (shrink)

Si les sciences ont incontestablement imposé un modèle de rationalité universelle, il ne s'ensuit pas, comme l'Occident l'a trop facilement cru et fait croire, que la société occidentale elle-même et ses valeurs soient, elles aussi, universelles et puissent servir de normes uniques. La mondialisation actuelle et l'histoire ancienne des hommes manifestent la pluralité des modes socioculturels et des règles éthiques. La Rationalité, qui devrait résulter d'une réelle intersubjectivité, ne peut désormais advenir que par la participation de tous et par une (...) convergence des rationalités jusque-là plurielles. L'Afrique est donc nécessairement incluse dans ce débat pour lequel elle propose des paradigmes universalisables. (shrink)

In the present paper, we propose and analyze a harvested predator–prey model that incorporates the dynamics of tourists in the Djoudj National Park of Birds, Senegal. The model describes the impact of migration of waterbirds and seasonal fishing on the global coexistence of species in the site of the Djoudj. By the Mahwin continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory, we investigate the existence of a positive periodic solution. The global asymptotic stability is discussed by constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional. Some (...) computational results are also addressed. (shrink)

Alors que des voyageurs comme Cook et Bougainville avaient déjà fait le tour des océans et des terres, que pouvaient encore dire les Allemands sur le reste du monde? Comment Kant, auteur de l'Impératif catégorique qui n'a jamais quitté sa ville de Königsberg, a-t-il pu servir de référence pour étudier la construction de l'altérité d'un continent qui lui fut, comme du reste pour beaucoup de ses compatriotes, un continent inconnu? En s'appuyant sur l'exemplarité du mouvement circulatoire des idées des Lumières, (...) françaises et anglaises en particulier, et à travers des textes d'une très grande diversité, les anthropologues et philosophes de la «Aufklärung» résument un débat européen sur le continent africain. C'est en cela que le choix de ce pays est significatif pour la présente recherche qui veut interroger le sens de cette altérité, elle-même construite sur un projet d'universel fort discutable. Ce projet, qui a précédé et formaté celui de la Ruse de la raison de Hegel, a de particulier pour notre modernité en cours le fait qu'il est bien loin d'avoir épuisé la construction d'un autre universel possible. (shrink)

Bangladesh experienced a massive surge in humanitarian crises after the 1971 Liberation War due to the systematic use of violence at both public and private spheres. Fictional accounts of the post-conflict period depict women as subjected to institutionalised sexism and aggravated physical and mental violence. Critical studies on such narratives often reiterate a stereotypical and essentialising discourse surrounding women’s identity, characterising them as helpless and passive victims of discrimination and exploitation. Drawing upon Judith Butler’s notions of precarity and agency, we (...) argue that the Bangladeshi-born British writer Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim transcends victimhood narratives by creating a more nuanced image of woman as vulnerable victims and resisting subjects at the same time. The novel is preoccupied with notions of vulnerability, violence, religious zealotry, and family estrangement. The findings reveal that the precariousness of women in the post-war period is caused and aggravated by violence and oppression perpetrated at political, social, and religious spheres. Female characters like Maya and Piya are presented as empowered agents of transformation when it comes to vulnerable situations that render them as insignificant and precarious. The study concludes that the novel contests and alters the stereotypical representations of women embedded in normalising and hegemonic discourses. (shrink)

The examination of power, space, and identity formation within diasporic literature has garnered significant attention due to the escalating global mobility of migrants across the world. This article studies the complex integration of spatial hierarchy, civil violence, and gendered responses to power representations in Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Lowland (2013). We utilise Henri Lefebvre’s theories to dissect the spatial dynamics of the novel across three dimensions: representations of space and conceived space, spatial practice and perceived space, and representational space and (...) lived space. Lefebvre’s framework is instrumental in understanding how physical and conceptual spaces can simultaneously serve as tools for domination and sites for transformative resistance. The novel weaves distinct spatial realms, such as the exclusive Tolly Club and the diminishing lowland, to symbolise postcolonialism and state control. The findings highlight how conceived space is portrayed as a postcolonial realm marked by violence and gendered spatial injustice, reflecting male dominance and societal norms that suppress female subjectivity. However, the study also reveals that this conformity is not static but showcases the agency of female characters like Gauri and Bijoli in resisting and renegotiating spatial constraints. (shrink)

The publication aims to make suggestions for a 'decolonisation of aesthetics' within an Afro-European framework. The texts (whose authors come from different cultural contexts between Germany, France, Senegal, Benin, Nigeria and Tunesia) do not only refer to heterogenous aesthetic practices understood as subversive and decolonial strategies, but also discuss philosophical questions of a renewed (non-in)dividual humanism. The artistic practices analyzed include artistic installations and ensembles as well as actions in urban and rural space, deceptive manœuvres at the borders and their (...) photographic documentation, and many more. (shrink)

Background The Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 expressed concern that some health-related studies undertaken in the Region were not subjected to any form of ethics review. In 2003, the study reported in this paper was conducted to determine which Member country did not have a national research ethics committee (REC) with a view to guiding the WHO Regional Office in developing practical strategies for supporting those countries. Methods This is a descriptive study. The (...) questionnaire was prepared and sent by diplomatic pouch to all the 46 Member States in the WHO African Region, through the WHO country representatives, for facilitation and follow up. The data were entered in Excel spreadsheet and subsequently exported to STATA for analysis. A Chi-Squared test (χ 2) for independence was undertaken to test the relationship between presence/absence of Research Ethics Committee (REC) and selected individual socioeconomic and health variables. Results The main findings were as follows: the response rate was 61% (28/46); 64% (18/28) confirmed the existence of RECs; 36% (10/28) of the respondent countries did not have a REC (although 80% of them reported that they had in place an ad hoc ethical review mechanism); 85% (22/26) of the countries that responded to this question indicated that ethical approval of research proposals was, in principle, required; and although 59% of the countries that had a REC expected it to meet every month, only 44% of them reported that the REC actually met on a monthly basis. In the Chi-Squared test, only the average population in the group of countries with a REC was statistically different (at 5% level of significance) from that of the group of countries without a REC. Conclusion In the current era of globalized biomedical research, good ethics stewardship demands that every country, irrespective of its level of economic development, should have in place a functional research ethics review system in order to protect the dignity, integrity and safety of its citizens who participate in research. (shrink)

The rise of transrealism in the second half of the twentieth century embellished the literary landscape in America with a new mode of expression that offered new understanding of time, space, identity, and social values and norms. This study situates the American novelist Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano within this literary context to map out the qualities that distinguish it as a transrealistic fiction. We argue that through innovative coalescence of fantasy and realism, this postmodern novel provides a satirical commentary against (...) the incongruities of the contemporary American society. To analyse the novel, we employ Rudy Rucker’s theorisations of the movement that delineates the transrealist manifesto as a union of realism, fantasy, and science-fiction. The findings reveal that through a satirical representation of the current advancements in technology and their inevitably negative impact on human life and society, the novel provides a dystopian picture of modern life in America. This apocalyptic sentiment is reinforced through a creative convergence of the surreal features of science-fiction, the tropes of naturalistic realism, and the elements of satire that together help to accentuate the deficiencies and ironies of the modern American society as well as the rampant misuse of technology by both individuals and authorities. (shrink)

We present a mathematical model of a fishery on several sites with a variable price. The model takes into account the evolution during the time of the resource, fish and boat movement between the different sites, fishing effort and price that varies with respect to supply and demand. We suppose that the movements of the boats and resource as well as the variation of the price go on at a fast time scale. We use methods of aggregation of variables in (...) order to reduce the number of variables and we derive a reduced model governing two global variables, respectively the biomass of the resource and the fishing effort of the whole fishery. We look for the existence of equilibria of the aggregated model and perform local stability analysis. Two main cases can occur. The first one corresponds to over-exploitation leading to fish extinction. At extinction, the fishing effort tends to a positive value. The second case corresponds to a durable fishery equilibrium which is globally asymptotically stable. In the later case, we show that there exists a number of fishing sites that optimizes the total catch of the fishery. (shrink)

We present a mathematical bioeconomic model of a fishery with a variable price. The model describes the time evolution of the resource, the fishing effort and the price which is assumed to vary with respect to supply and demand. The supply is the instantaneous catch while the demand function is assumed to be a monotone decreasing function of price. We show that a generic market price equation (MPE) can be derived and has to be solved to calculate non trivial equilibria (...) of the model. This MPE can have 1, 2 or 3 equilibria. We perform the analysis of local and global stability of equilibria. The MPE is extended to two cases: an age-structured fish population and a fishery with storage of the resource. (shrink)