Youth Between State and Rebel (Dis)Orders: Contesting Legitimacy from Below in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

The Sahel has gained attention in international politics as one of the central theatres in the war on terrorism. International actors in this war seek alliances with states in the region, reinforcing the latter’s military strength and their legitimacy from outside. At the same time, increasingly-connected young populations question the legitimacy of their states, and contest that legitimacy from within and below. In the absence of states delivering any reasonable form of social contract, young people become torn between different governing orders and find themselves in a liminal space. In this article we present the cases of youth in Mali and Chad, who find themselves in a period of re-definition of their position in society and hence search for legitimate structures representation. In this search they may frame their belonging in terms of ethnicity, religion or political opposition – and increasingly also in adherence to global citizenship. New information flows and connectivity among young people in these regions, and between them and the diaspora, has given a new turn to their search for citizenship/belonging and rightful representation. However, whether their search will be successful in this geopolitical context is questionable.     

基于LabVIEW Vision的航空炮弹缺陷检测方案设计

航空炮弹在勤务保障过程中,容易受到环境和外力的破坏而造成表面的损伤,影响正常的飞行训练甚至危及载机安全。采用虚拟仪器平台提供的LabVIEW Vision视觉开发工具包,结合灰度直方图筛选、Saturation分量图像提取、灰度形态学Erode和Dilate变换以及最大熵阈值分割的图像处理等技术手段,对待测航空炮弹图像进行分析处理,精确判断炮弹锈蚀和划痕缺陷问题。试验结果表明,系统具有较高的可行性和可靠性,可以实现炮弹缺陷的快速鲁棒检测,提高了炮弹检测的效率和精度,对于提升航空弹药保障信息化、智能化水平具有重要意义。     

低功率霍尔推力器阳极供气环工程设计关键参数仿真

为了提高低功率霍尔推力器放电通道内中性原子分布均匀性,采用有限元方法对阳极供气环关键结构参数进行优化研究。针对双腔式阳极供气环结构,重点分析了缓冲腔容积比以及缓冲腔隔板导流小孔数量等关键参数对阳极供气均匀性的影响。研究结果表明:随着缓冲腔容积比的增大,阳极供气环出气孔差异率先快速减小后趋于稳定,其中当容积率k=1.0时,平均差异率和最大差异率分别为1.77%和3.79%;隔板间导流小孔数量从8增加到14时,出气孔差异率呈现浴盆曲线特性,其中导流孔数量为10时,平均差异率和最大差异率分别为1.8%和3.8%。研究结果可为霍尔推力器阳极供气环工程设计提供理论支撑。     

THE NPT

This article assesses the successes and failures of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) since its creation in 1968 by developing and applying a set of “metrics” to each of the NPT's substantive articles as well as to its withdrawal provisions. In light of this analysis, the article also puts forward some specific proposals for strengthening the NPT and its implementation, with a view to the debate and decisions at the upcoming 2010 NPT Review Conference. A concluding section turns explicitly to the 2010 NPT Review Conference and proposes pursuit of agreement on three NPT Action Plans: one for nonproliferation, one for peaceful uses, and one for nuclear disarmament. Combining vision and practicable steps, these Action Plans would set out a roadmap for action between the 2010 and the 2015 NPT Review Conferences. They could provide a foundation for substantive exchanges—in this case, on progress toward their implementation—during the preparations for the 2015 conference.     

基于免疫遗传算法的人上位拣选车作业规划问题求解

针对人上位拣选车的作业轨迹规划问题构建了具有附加安全约束条件的时间最优控制数学模型,并提出了一种免疫遗传求解算法．该算法较单纯遗传算法有效避免了种群退化,且收敛速度更快．实验表明,该算法适用于求解人上位拣选车的作业轨迹规划问题．     

基于Prony算法合闸于故障保护方案

将Prony分析方法应用于断路器合闸于故障保护。利用Matlab软件对断路器合闸于输电线路故障和非故障情况下的暂态过程进行建模和仿真,对合闸后半个周波或1个周波输电线路保护安装处实测的电流数据进行采样,应用Pronv算法对其进行分析,提取出此暂态电流中包含的各次自振荡分量的各个特征量,识别出线路中是否存在故障。仿真证明：该分析方法可在合闸后半个周波或1个周波准确求出合闸操作暂态过程中各次频率的分量,从而正确识别线路的故障。     

如何提高在线学习者的自我调节能力

与传统课堂教学相比,网络教学环境独有的特点对学习者提出了更高的要求:要求学习者不仅要掌握知识、技能,更要学会学习,管理自己的能力,进行有意义、高效的学习,使其努力指向目标并最终实现目标。本文结合师范生公共必修课《现代教育技术》在线网络课程的教学实践,有效跟踪学习者的学习行为活动,分析学习者的学习状态、学习风格,以及对学习行为的自我调节能力,总结摸索出一些培养并提高学习者自我调节能力的指导性策略,希望能对广大网络学习者有一定的借鉴意义。     

Military Debt: Perspectives from the Experience of Arab Countries

The sectoral production function model of Feder (1983) has been widely used to examine the link between defence spending and economic growth. In this paper, the model, for which too much has been claimed in some past work, is examined, and the case is made for using growth in real non‐defence output rather than growth in real aggregate output (inclusive of military spending) as the dependent variable. Attention is restricted to a small group of OECD countries for which reliable labour force and capital stock (as well as defence) data are obtainable. With non‐defence output as the dependent variable and using only high quality data, no evidence in favour of the underconsumptionist (as opposed to the defence as a burden) position is found.     

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region

In April 2012 a number of former rebels who had been integrated into the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) mutinied and formed the Movement of March 23, better know as the M23 rebel group. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) has been mediating between Kinshasa and the M23 rebel group since 2012, without much success. In August 2013, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) issued a communiqué after its 33rd Summit of Heads of State and Government, stating that while it commends the ICGLR efforts, the talks have become protracted and a deadline needs to be set. The summit also called for an urgent joint ICGLR–SADC summit to address the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition to this development, the chair of the ICGLR is to be rotated in December 2013, when President José Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola replaces President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. To date, the mediation has been headed by Uganda and this has raised concerns over the credibility of the ICGLR-led process, since Uganda has been accused of supporting the M23 rebellion in a report released in November 2012 by the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC. One could question whether the Angolan leadership will bring anything new that could have an impact on the crisis. Many expect that the perceived neutrality that Dos Santos could bring to the negotiations may be a positive step towards reviving the talks that have all but stalled at this point. Another issue of interest is whether the joint ICGLR–SADC summit could instil new life into the mediation process.     

BUSTING OUT

This report explores Iranian popular opinion on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the determinants of Iranian attitudes. Using data from a 2008 survey of 710 Iranians administered by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, we find that that a significant minority of Iranians (10 percent in 2006 and 14 percent in 2008) would prefer that Iran withdraw from the NPT. Our statistical analysis shows that Iranians who fear a US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and distrust the International Atomic Energy Agency are more likely to want to quit the NPT. We therefore argue that those who do not trust other nations are most likely to oppose the NPT.