23 research outputs found
Ressenya de "Idéologie et tradition en Afrique Noire" de Vincent Ouattara
No full textObra ressenyada: V. OUATTARA, Idéologie et tradition en Afrique noire: Pour une nouvelle penseé africaine. Paris : L'Harmattan, 2001.Anàlisi del concepte desenvolupament en aquesta obra de Vincent Ouattara, autor africà que ha viscut el procés de descolonització dels estats africans en el context de bipolaritat de la Guerra Freda, ha analitzat els impactes de les diverses vies de desenvolupament en el continent africà. Reflexiona també sobre com s'hauria d'enfocar el desenvolupament per trencar els esquemes neocolonials i tendir a un model basat en els valors africans i susceptible de materialitzar-se en l'actual context socioeconòmic.An analysis of the concept of development in Vincent Ouattara's writing. This African author has experienced the process of decolonization of African states in the bipolar context of the Cold War, and has analyzed the impacts of the various forms of development in the African continent. In addition, he explores how development should be channeled to break the neocolonial pattern, offering a model based on African values that can be built under the current socioeconomic context
Rapid and Focused Ethnographies to Decrease Tensions in Guinea's Ebola Crisis
No full textThis article is based on the personal experiences of the author as an anthropologist working for the WHO during the West African Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak between 2013 and 2016. As in earlier outbreaks in Central and East Africa, interventions by local and international institutional actors to control the EVD outbreak in West Africa faced resistance from populations, thus contributing to the spread and persistence of the epidemic. Distrust of health workers – sometimes resulting in aggressive attacks – presented an extreme challenge to the Ebola eradication initiative. Faced with a highly volatile situation, various international organisations decided to employ social scientists and particularly applied anthropologists, to help facilitate communication between the EVD response teams and the affected populations. By describing specific cases where anthropological methods – specifically, rapid and focused ethnographies – contributed to the progressive subsiding of reluctance to EVD interventions in the prefecture of Kindia, Guinea, the author demonstrates how these tools can be effective methods for anthropologists to contribute to managing severe public health emergencies
The use of New York cotton futures contracts to hedge cotton price risk in developing countries
No full textCotton exports account for a significant share of commodity exports for some developing countries, especially in West Africa and Central Asia. In these countries, dependency on cotton for export revenues has increased in the past 20 years. These countries therefore have a high exposure to cotton price volatility. Cotton-producing developing countries and economies in transition make little use of hedging mechanisms to reduce risk from the volatility of cotton export revenues. Countries in Francophone West Africa use forward sales to hedge but only for a small share of the crop. These countries could use cotton futures and options contracts to hedge against short- to medium-term price volatility, making cotton export revenues more predictable. Cotton futures and options contracts could also make cotton-related commercial transactions more flexible. (Futures could be sold when there are no buyers in the physical market, for example.) In West Africa, futures and options could complement the existing system of forward sales. The authors examine the feasibility of using New York cotton futures and options contracts as hedging instruments. They base their analysis on a portfolio selection problem in which the hedger selects the optimal proportions of unhedged and hedged output to minimize risk. The results suggest that despite the existence of relatively high basis risk (that is, a relatively low correlation between spot and future prices), hedging reduces cotton price volatility by 30 to 70 percent. Moreover, for all varieties of cotton examined, the hedge ratio (the percentage of exports hedged) was below one. Using a hedge ratio of one (naive hedge), at times, increases rather than decreases risk. The results also show that hedging, while reducing risk, also reduces expected returns. Attitudes toward risk that is, the degree of risk aversion - determine how much of this risk-return tradeoff is acceptable. For a risk-averse agent, the main benefit of hedging lies in risk reduction rather than in the potential for increased returns.Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Financial Intermediation,Insurance Law
The relevance of Asteraceae family plants in most of the neuropsychiatric disorders treatment
No full textMany of the traditional medicinal plants belong to one of the largest plant families: the Asteraceae family. These plants are widely used in alternative medicine due to their effects on the nervous system, being studied both on cellular and animal models. In this way, medicinal plants are preferred in drug therapy research due to the wide population interest. The Asteraceae plants phytochemical composition is mainly consisted in cholinergic, dopaminergic or serotonergic molecules which are involved in the pathophysiology of the neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, autism, anxiety or depression. Therefore, this review aims to comprise all the available information regarding the neurological activity of Asteraceae family plants in order to find further correlations between different components in order to explain their neuropsychiatric potential use
Peacemaking in Africa : - a critical analysis of the relationship between the African Union and African sub-regional organizations in recent peacemaking initiatives
No full textThis thesis considers the question of how, in practice, a regional organization comes to take the leading role in managing a peacemaking intervention. More specifically, it considers which criteria, if any, are used in the choice of a lead actor in peacemaking efforts, and how the principles of 'subsidiarity, complementarity and comparative advantage,' as laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding between the AU and the subregional organizations, are being applied in this decision making. The recent example cases of Zimbabwe, Kenya and Cote d'Ivoire are specifically analyzed to show the reality of the working relationship in the present
The Existence and Nature of ECOWAS Electronic Communications Law
No full textL'importance des communications électroniques dans le monde et, en particulier en Afrique, n'est plus à prouver. Les experts ont clairement démontré leur apport essentiel dans l'amélioration de la productivité et de la compétitivité, dans la création de richesses ou encore dans la réduction de la pauvreté. La Communauté Économique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO) a parfaitement raison d'être convaincue que l'institution d'un marché unique numérique catapultera l'atteinte de ses ambitions de parvenir à une communauté des peuples vivant dans la paix et la prospérité au bénéfice des 412 millions d'habitants de ses 15 Etats membres à l'horizon 2050. Cette conviction politico-économique s'est traduite au plan juridique par l'adoption de normes et réglementations dont, en particulier, le paquet télécom constitué des 6 Actes Additionnels de 2007 ayant pour objet de régir (presque) tous les compartiments de ce secteur aussi bien au niveau communautaire qu'étatique.L'existence d'un droit national des communications électroniques ne fait pas de doute ne serait-ce qu'à en juger par le nombre relativement important de thèses et ouvrages généraux y relatifs. Toutefois, au niveau communautaire, le constat est tout autre. La paucité doctrinale n'aide pas, en effet, à affirmer avec une certitude cartésienne, d'abord, l'existence (c'est-à-dire le concept, l'origine, l'évolution et l'autonomie) d'un droit des communications électroniques de la CEDEAO et, ensuite, le contenu (c'est-à-dire la nature, la dynamique ou la substance) exact des réglementations qu'il renferme.La présente étude conclut finalement à l'existence de ce droit qui s'est construit et a évolué dans un contexte de libéralisation du secteur des communications électroniques, d'harmonisation des réglementations et d'affirmation de son autonomie aussi bien matérielle (compétences, sources et champ d'application) qu'institutionnelle avec la fonction cardinale (mais de plus en plus fragmentée) que joue l'Autorité nationale de régulation (ANR). Quant à sa nature, l'étude postule à un dimorphisme normatif avec, d'une part, une réglementation communautaire générale qui comporte une dimension à la fois positive (droits et libertés reconnus) et négative (obligations multiformes imposées aux acteurs) et, d'autre part, une réglementation spécifique. Celle-ci comporte le régime de l'opérateur puissant pour prévenir qu'il n'abuse de sa position dominante et déséquilibre l'état concurrentiel du marché si durement acquis et celui du régime du service universel visant à protéger en particulier le consommateur faible des affres d'une libéralisation et d'une concurrence exacerbées. L'atteinte de l'état d'ataraxie numérique tant souhaité par la Communauté y depend en effet : là où vit une âme, un réseau doit être disponible et accessible selon la juste formule d'un auteur. Cette conceptualisation et cette systématisation à peine achevées méritent néanmoins d'être dépassées au regard de l'évolution de la technologie et des grands enjeux numériques du moment : l'intelligence artificielle avec notamment ChatGPT, la Big data, le cyber menace, la neutralité du net, la protection des données personnelles, l'internet des objets, le matavers, la sobriété numérique, etc. C'est donc que le besoin est impérieux de réformer la réglementation, de changer de paradigme sur la régulation ainsi que le devenir du régulateur et de promouvoir davantage la culture numérique du citoyen. Il faut se satisfaire que ce chantier soit déjà ouvert. Mais il conviendrait de l'accélérer pour qu'une fois de plus, la CEDEAO et, de manière générale l'Afrique, ne rate pas le coche de ce tournant numérique historique qui s'annonce à pas de géant avec tambours et trompettes.The importance of electronic communications in the world, and in Africa in particular, is well established. Experts have clearly demonstrated their essential contribution to improving productivity and competitiveness, creating wealth, and reducing poverty. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has every reason to be convinced that the establishment of a single digital market will catapult the achievement of its ambitions to achieve a community of peoples living in peace and prosperity for the benefit of the 412 million inhabitants of its 15 member states by 2050. This political and economic conviction has led to the adoption of legal standards and regulations, in particular the telecoms package of 6 Supplementary Acts of 2007, which governs (almost) all aspects of the sector at both Community and national level.The existence of a national electronic communications law is beyond doubt, if only to judge by the relatively large number of theses and general works on the subject. At Community level, however, the situation is quite different. The paucity of doctrine makes it difficult to assert with Cartesian certainty, firstly, the existence (i.e., the concept, origin, evolution, and autonomy) of an ECOWAS electronic communications law and, secondly, the exact content (i.e., the nature, dynamics or substance) of the regulations it contains.The present study concludes that such does indeed exist and has evolved and developed in a context of liberalization of the electronic communications sector, harmonization of regulations and affirmation of its autonomy, both material (competences, sources and scope) and institutional, with the cardinal (but increasingly fragmented) role played by the National Regulatory Authority (NRA).As for its nature, the study postulates a normative dimorphism with, on the one hand, general Community regulations with both a positive dimension (recognized rights and freedoms) and a negative one (multiform obligations imposed on players) and, on the other hand, specific regulations. The latter includes the regime of the dominant operator, designed to prevent abuse of its dominant position and imbalance in the hard-won competitive state of the market, and the universal service regime, designed to protect weaker consumers in particular from the throes of exacerbated liberalization and competition. Achieving the state of digital ataraxia so desired by the Community depends on it: where a soul lives, a network must be available and accessible, as the author rightly put it. However, this conceptualization and systematization, which has only just been completed, needs to be overhauled in light of the evolution of technology and the major digital issues of the moment: artificial intelligence with ChatGPT in particular, Big data, the cyber threat, net neutrality, personal data protection, the Internet of Things, matavers, digital sobriety, and so on. There is therefore a pressing need for regulatory reform, a paradigm shift in regulation and the future of the regulator, and the promotion of digital literacy among citizens. It's gratifying that this work is already underway. But it needs to be speeded up, so that once again, ECOWAS - and Africa in general - does not miss the boat on this historic digital turning point, which is fast approaching with great fanfare
Estimation of the height profile of the path for autonomous driving in terrain
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)A priori knowledge about the height profile of the path is vital for rollover avoidance in the context of autonomous driving through uneven forest ground. The forest ground is usually covered with either soft vegetation in summertime, or by snow in winter. Thus, the exact solid form of the forest ground cannot be detected by camera or LiDAR. This article, we propose height-odometry and aided height-odometry methods for ground height estimation. The height-odometry method depends solely on interoceptive and proprioceptive sensor data, while the aided height-odometry combines height-odometry output with the existing 3D map information. Thus, the central idea is to build a reference 3D path for autonomous forest machines where the spatial positioning – based on the RTK-GNSS or Forest SLAM method – is fused with the output of (aided) height-odometry method(s). We evaluate the proposed height-odometry methods in two separate environments that are accurately (3D) mapped by a UAV using the advanced machine-vision-based SfM method and the LiDAR-based SLAM algorithms. Through comprehensive data analysis, we demonstrate that the proposed 3D path estimation methods are practical and simple to implement, yet sufficient to estimate the height profile of the path with desired accuracy.Peer reviewe
Towards a Semiautonomous Young Spruce Forest Late Cleaning
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Field Robotics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.Cleaning a seedling spruce stand is an important silvicultural task required to help the young spruce trees thrive. It is usually manual work with a clearing saw. Mechanized solutions have been proposed, but they have not worked out well, since the driver has challenges in seeing the seedling trees that should be left growing. Instead, we demonstrate that a semiautonomous forest machine could do the cleaning operation using a suitable map of the environment. We propose using a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to map the area beforehand, and a real-time perception system onboard the forest machine performing the semiautonomous late cleaning of a seedling spruce stand with the help of a driver using a dedicated human–machine interface (HMI). In the proposed solution, overlapping color images are collected by a UAV to build a map that integrates both color and depth information. This map is used to detect the young spruce trees, among other species. We also propose a graph-based point-cloud matching method, which can precisely locate the forest machine on the map using forest machine-mounted sensors. An HMI is developed to improve the situational awareness of the operator in the forest machine cabin during the cleaning process. The proposed integrated solution has been demonstrated in a real seedling spruce forest.Peer reviewe
The impact of the strong euro on the real effective exchange rates of the two Francophone African CFA Zones
No full textThe author estimates the degree of misalignment of the CFA franc since the introduction of the euro in 1999. Using a relative purchasing power parity-based methodology, he develops a monthly panel time series dataset for both the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) zone and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) zone to compute a trade-weighted real effective exchange rate indexed series from January 1999 to December 2004. The author's main finding is that the real effective exchange rate appreciated by close to 8 percent in UEMOA and 7 percent in CEMAC, influenced by volatility in the euro-dollar bilateral exchange rate and conservative monetary policies in the two zones, resulting in a partial loss of competitiveness in export markets. The lower appreciation in Central Africa can be explained by lower inflation in CEMAC than in UEMOA and by the greater trade with higher inflation East Asian countries, partially offset by the peg to the dollar. However, the inclusion of"unrecorded trade"results in an appreciation of only 6 percent in the UEMOA zone and 6 percent in the CEMAC zone due to higher inflation in the two countries with unmonitored cross-border flows, Ghana and Nigeria. Using time series econometrics, an Engle-Granger two stage procedure for cointegration, and an error correction framework, a single equation modeling of the real exchange rate from 1970 to 2005 as a function of terms of trade, economic openness, aid inflows, and a dummy representing the 1994 devaluation, the author finds little statistical evidence of a long-run equilibrium exchange rate that is a vector of economic fundamentals. The dummy explains most of the real exchange rate behavior in the two zones, while openness in UEMOA has contributed to an appreciation of the real effective exchange rate.Economic Stabilization,Economic Theory&Research,Macroeconomic Management,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Free Trade
The succession of Faure Gnassingbe to the Togolese presidency : an international law perspective
No full textThe African renaissance - the renewal of the continent - effectively started in the last decade of the second millennium. A critical element is the increasing and widespread democratic awakening in all parts of Africa since the early 1990s as evidenced by the number of multi-party elections. Demonstrating their commitment to democracy, African leaders, under the auspices of regional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), have increasingly made a number of treaties, declarations and other political commitments in the field of democracy and good governance (including the New Partnership for Africa\u92s Development (NEPAD) and the Declaration on Africa\u92s Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government). Significantly, the recent politico-constitutional crisis in Togo, occasioned by the sudden death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema in early February 2005, after he had ruled the country with an iron-fist for 38 years, and the interim succession of his son, Faure Gnassingbe, to the presidency, raised issues of democracy and good governance and provided an opportunity for African countries to test the effectiveness of the various democracy-related instruments. Adopting a legal-jurisprudential perspective, the author skillfully examines the contradictions between the regional-international legal instruments that permit interference in the internal affairs of a Member State of ECOWAS and AU and the principles of international law that provide for sovereign equality of States and non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign State. Undoubtedly, this work will interest scholars, students and researchers in international law, international politics and international relations as well as general readers, especially those interested in African affairs. CONTENT Introduction Politico-Constitutional Antecedents of the Recent Developments Regional Instruments on Democratic Principles in Africa Some Basic Principles of International Law: In a Nutshell Faure’s Succession: Validity of the Removal of Fambare Ouattara Natchaba from Office Faure’s Succession and Legality of Constitutional Amendment Faure’s Succession and the Doctrine of State Necessity Faure’s Succession and Regional Instruments on Democracy and Good Governance Concluding Remarks Reference
