NGOs and female circumcision in Egypt. An ethnographic enquiry.

in De Lauri, A. (eds). Humanitarianism, Inc. (in press)

In 1994, during the International Conference on Population and Development convened by the United Nations in Cairo, a shocking video was shown, realized by an operator of CNN and depicting the ... [more ▼]

In 1994, during the International Conference on Population and Development convened by the United Nations in Cairo, a shocking video was shown, realized by an operator of CNN and depicting the circumcision of a ten-year-old child living in this very same city. Discourses around female circumcision were not new in Egypt and in the international community, but what was considered as a new episode of a recurrent scandal (not the last one indeed) led to enhance the "war against bad government"[1]. A war fought by means of ideological weapons produced by expert knowledges among which the medical and the feminist ones. The assignment of a value to the state of integrity of the female body and to the women freedom of choice, both designed according to Western canons, led to different actions to “save” Egyptian women. In this context, development agencies fosters a widespread representation of the victim, constituted by the woman mutilated body. Such representation is functional to put in place programs which do not guarantee a freedom of choice, but rather require adherence to another female model, one that defines the "modern" woman. My article, based on ethnographic experience, aims at highlighting the complexity of such dynamics and the role played by humanitarianism within them. Female body becomes the arena where local and international economic powers operate, disregarding a real understanding of the practice, its meanings and its eventual change. ________________________________________ [1] Foucault, Michel. La nascita della clinica. Il ruolo della medicina nella costituzione delle scienze umane, Einaudi, Torino 1969: 48. [less ▲]

French Adaptation of the Childhood ExecutivFe Function Inventory (CHEXI): Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a Sample of Young French-Speaking Belgian Children

in European Journal of Psychological Assessment (in press)

Thorell and Nyberg (2008) recently developed the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI), a new rating instrument for executive functioning in day-to-day life that can be divided into four ... [more ▼]

Thorell and Nyberg (2008) recently developed the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI), a new rating instrument for executive functioning in day-to-day life that can be divided into four subscales: working memory, planning, inhibition, and regulation. By using an exploratory factor analysis on data from young Swedish children attending kindergarten, Thorell and Nyberg (2008) found a two-factor solution tapping working memory and inhibition. In the present study, we explored the psychometric characteristics of the French adaptation of the CHEXI. Ninety-five parents of 5- and 6-year-old children completed the CHEXI. Eighty-seven children from this sample were given clinical inhibition and working memory tasks. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor solution based on inhibition and working memory that was identified in the original study of Swedish children. Supplementary results indicated good internal and test-retest reliability for the entire scale, as well as for the two subscales identified. Correlation analyses showed no relationship between cognitive measures and the CHEXI subscales. Possible clinical applications for the CHEXI scales are discussed. [less ▲]

The use of SWOT analysis to explore and prioritize conservation and development strategies for local cattle breeds

in Animal (in press)

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the ... [more ▼]

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the conservation and development of local breeds, as it allows the integration of many driving factors influencing breed dynamics. We developed a quantified SWOT method as a ecisionmaking tool for identification and ranking of conservation and development strategies of local breeds, and applied it to a set of 13 cattle breeds of six European countries. The method has four steps: definition of the system, identification and grouping of the driving factors, quantification of the importance of driving factors and identification and prioritization of the strategies. The factors were determined following a multi-stakeholder approach and grouped with a three-level structure. Animal genetic resources expert groups ranked the factors, and a quantification process was implemented to identify and prioritize strategies. The proposed SWOT methodology allows analyzing the dynamics of local cattle breeds in a structured and systematic way. It is a flexible tool developed to assist different stakeholders in defining the strategies and actions. The quantification process allows the comparison of the driving factors and the prioritization of the strategies for the conservation and development of local cattle breeds. We identified 99 factors across the breeds. Although the situation is very heterogeneous, the future of these breeds may be promising. The most important strengths and weaknesses were related to production systems and farmers. The most important opportunities were found in marketing new products, whereas the most relevant threats were found in selling the current products. The across-breed strategies utility decreased as they gained specificity. Therefore, the strategies at European level should focus on general aspects and be flexible enough to be adapted to the country and breed specificities. [less ▲]

Louise de Savoie et la chambre des Bucoliques

in Brioist, Pascal; Fagnart, Laure; Michon, Cédric (Eds.) Louise de Savoie (1476-1531) (in press)

La contribution du CHST à l'inventaire wallon des terrains potentiellement pollués

in Actes du IXème Congrès de l’Association des Cercles francophones d’Histoire et d’Archéologie de Belgique (in press)

Review of physicochemical processes involved in agrochemical spray retention

in Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Société et Environnement = Biotechnology, Agronomy, Society and Environment [=BASE] (in press)

This review provides a broad view of the processes and parameters involved in applying agrochemicals to the leaves of field crops. Treatment efficiency is assessed using macroscopic and microscopic ... [more ▼]

This review provides a broad view of the processes and parameters involved in applying agrochemicals to the leaves of field crops. Treatment efficiency is assessed using macroscopic and microscopic approaches to investigate spray retention. With the macroscopic approach, aspects related to spray coarseness, carrier volume, leaf wettability, plant architecture, crop density and additives are addressed. Comparative studies have highlighted the wide variability in spray retention as a function of these parameters. They have failed, however, to describe the underlying physical relationships clearly enough to generalize the results. These relationships are better investigated using a microscopic approach, where drop impact behavior is established in relation to target surface and fluid properties. The wetting regime (either Wenzel or Cassie-Baxter) depends on the leaf surface microscopic roughness ratio (r) and chemical nature, fluid dynamic surface tension and drop impact energy. Adhesion, rebound and disintegration have been observed successively with increasing drop impact energy. Transitions between impact outcomes are influenced by fluid rheology and the dynamic surface tension of the fluid. The effect of surface orientation remains poorly explored, but it seems to have a limited influence on retention. Recent fundamental studies on superhydrophobicity and wetting should help practitioners in their search for an ever more rational application of agrochemicals. They could also drive the development of new systematic retention testing methods. [less ▲]

Discrimination of grassland species and their classification in botanical families by laboratory scale NIR hyperspectral imaging: preliminary results

in Talanta (in press)

The objective of this study was to discriminate by a NIR line scan hyperspectral imaging, taxonomic plant families comprised of different grassland species. Plants were collected from semi-natural meadows ... [more ▼]

The objective of this study was to discriminate by a NIR line scan hyperspectral imaging, taxonomic plant families comprised of different grassland species. Plants were collected from semi-natural meadows of the National Apuseni Park, Apuseni Mountains, Gârda area (Romania) according to botanical families. Chemometric tools such as PLS-DA were used to discriminate distinct grassland species, and assign the different species to botanical families. Species within the Poacea family and Other Botanical Families could be distinguished (R2=0.91 and 0.90, respectively) with greater accuracy than those species in the Fabacea family (R2=0.60). A correct classification rate of 99% was obtained in the assignment of the various species to the proper family. Moreover a complete study based on wavelength selection has been performed in order to identify the chemical compound related to each botanical family and therefore to the possible toxicity of the plant. This work could be considered as a first step for the development of a complete procedure for the detection and quantification of possible toxic species in semi-natural meadows used by grazing animals. [less ▲]

Le "Gate fever" : la cristallisation du temps carcéral

Scientific conference (2014, May 21)

Les sociétés de contrôle et la postmodernité à l’épreuve de la psychopathologie

Scientific conference (2014, January 20)

Associative learning of Nasonia vitripennis Walker (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to methyldisulfanylmethane

in Journal of Forensic Sciences (2014)

Traditional methods of volatile detection used by police typically consist of reliance on canine olfaction. However, dogs have some limitations such as cost of training and time of conditioning. The ... [more ▼]

Traditional methods of volatile detection used by police typically consist of reliance on canine olfaction. However, dogs have some limitations such as cost of training and time of conditioning. The possibility of using parasitic wasps for detecting explosives and narcotics has been developed. Moreover, wasps are cheap to produce and can be conditioned with impressive speed for a specific chemical-detection task. We examined the ability of Nasonia vitripennis Walker to learn and respond to methydisulfanylmethane (DMDS), a volatile discriminator of cadaver. The training aimed to form an association between an unconditioned stimulus (pupae) and the conditioned stimulus (odor source). After the training, the time spent of conditioned wasps in the DMDS chamber was measured. Statistical analysis showed that the increasing concentrations involved an increase in the time spent in the chamber containing DMDS. This study indicates that N. vitripennis can respond to DMDS, which provide further support for its development as a biological sensor. [less ▲]