Suchergebnisse

The political-ideological characterization and analysis of Angolan nationalist movements and the conflicts between them, has always been subject of major and passionate political-academic discussion, which became an important component of the nationalist movements' international and domestic characterization and definition. The MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) rapidly acquired the epithet of leftist, Socialist and Marxist since the anti-colonial struggle through the independence and afterwards. However, during the so-called founding period of an officially proclaimed Socialist MPLA, in an apparent contradiction, the MPLA's governing practice went objectively in an opposite direction, while still reinforcing that unquestioned epithet of Socialist. It is here argued that foreign attributed classifications (political and academic), influenced by the passionate politicalidological struggles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the civil war and the Cold War, ended up diplomatically-politically assumed (instrumentalised) by the movement itself, whereby an illusive characterization/identification prevailed, hampering a more objective analysis of the post-independence political practice. Our paper will focus on the contrast between the academic discussion on the political-ideological characterization of the MPLA (part I) and the governing practice of the party during the administration of the first President of the Republic, which was the founding period of the MPLA as a so-called Marxist-Leninist Socialist party (part II). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Le propos de l'auteur, en faisant l'analyse historique du theatre de marionnettes du XVIe siecle a nos jours, est de montrer comment il a ete directement et activement lie aux bouleversements aussi radicaux que violents de l'histoire mexicaine, a la propagation de la foi, a la quete de l'identite nationale, a la satire politique et apres la revolution, a l'action politique sociale et educative du gouvernement

Development thinking has been progressively dominated by neo-institutionalism, influencing major donors in Africa, and recently included in the UN 2030 Agenda for development. This paper discusses some unintended impacts of such strategies in neo-patrimonial regimes such as Angola and Mozambique, whereby neo-institutionalism favoured donors' apolitical "partnership" with resilient neo-patrimonial structures, facilitating its recycling, sophistication, and modernization, taking advantage of financial globalization to its own ends and improving its democratic image through elections, but leaving untouched the principles of neo-patrimonial political management for a minority to hold on to power since independence. Theoretically, this approach contrasts with varieties of democracy and varieties of capitalism perspectives. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Proximate to a Weberian perspective, this article argues that the resilience of the Angolan regime is mainly owed to an ethos structured on top of a specific socio-cultural historical matrix (minority at start), evolving since the 16th century. Such matrix was structured on a prevailing Weltanschauung (world and national vision), that has been progressively self-presented, self-assumed, imposed/assimilated as national and modern within a project of identity and power hegemony, even though still and constantly ridden by several internal contradictions and tensions. Dynamics of this process is central to understand the intricacies of the relationship between rulers and ruled, evolving identities as well as the still significant social support to the party in power after more than four decades in the government. The regime's resilience lays on such ethos in support of hegemonic power and identity project, above and beyond the president and all his political management abilities, beyond the central instrumentality of the national oil company (SONANGOL), beyond the media spotlight on influential names surrounding the presidency, including the president's men, generals, and beyond authoritarianism. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Phylogenetic studies have contributed to our understanding of the early epidemic onset of HIV-1 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); however, the factors driving its early emergence and establishment in human populations still remain unresolved. In order to determine the key aspects of its successful epidemic spread, complete genome data are required from samples representative of the viral diversity in the DRC. In this study, we have established a universal PCR-assay that uses seven different panels of primers to produce overlapping amplicons covering the complete HIV genome. To circumvent the limitations of purifying these fragments and sequencing them with traditional approaches, we have developed a massive parallel sequencing method and a protocol for efficiently assembling HIV-1 genomes. A total of thirty-six samples, collected between 1997 and 2001 from different locations across the DRC, have been obtained, and, at this stage, we are focusing on complementing our dataset with more archival samples that can be used as HIV 'molecular fossils'. By generating complete genome phylogeographic data from the DRC, we aim to create a genomic window into the past evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of HIV-1 in Central Africa and understand the natural history of this devastating pandemic.

From the point of view of mixed-mode scattering parameters, Smm, a two-port device can be excited using different driving conditions. Each condition leads to a particular set of input reflection and input impedance coefficient definitions that should be carefully applied depending on the type of excitation and symmetry of the two-port device. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explain the general analytic procedure for the evaluation of such reflection and impedance coefficients in terms of mixed-mode scattering parameters. Moreover, the driving of a two-port device as a one-port device is explained as a particular case of a two-port mixed-mode excitation using a given set of mixed-mode loads. The theory is applied to the evaluation of the quality factor, Q, of symmetrical and non- symmetrical inductors. ; This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science (with support from the European Regional Development Fund) under contract TEC2010-14825/MIC and TEC2010-21484; and in part by the Andalusian Regional Council of Innovation, Science and Enterprise under contract TIC-2532 and with the support of the Department of University, Research and society of information of Government of Catalonia. ; Peer Reviewed

Molecular epidemiological studies revealed that the epicenter of the HIV pandemic was Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. All known subtypes and numerous complex recombinant strains co-circulate in the DRC. Moreover, high intra-subtype diversity has been also documented. During two previous surveys on HIV-1 antiretroviral drug resistance in the DRC, we identified two divergent subtype C lineages in the protease and partial reverse transcriptase gene regions. We sequenced eight near full-length genomes and classified them using bootscanning and likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses. Four strains are more closely related to subtype C although within the range of inter sub-subtype distances. However, these strains also have small unclassified fragments and thus were named CRF92_C2U. Another strain is a unique recombinant of CRF92_C2U with an additional small unclassified fragment and a small divergent subtype A fragment. The three remaining strains represent a complex mosaic named CRF93_cpx. CRF93_cpx have two fragments of divergent subtype C sequences, which are not conventional subtype C nor the above described C2, and multiple divergent subtype A-like fragments. We then inferred the time-scaled evolutionary history of subtype C following a Bayesian approach and a partitioned analysis using major genomic regions. CRF92_C2U and CRF93_cpx had the most recent common ancestor with conventional subtype C around 1932 and 1928, respectively. A Bayesian demographic reconstruction corroborated that the subtype C transition to a faster phase of exponential growth occurred during the 1950s. Our analysis showed considerable differences between the newly discovered early-divergent strains and the conventional subtype C and therefore suggested that this virus has been diverging in humans for several decades before the HIV/M diversity boom in the 1950s.

A significant shift has taken place in global forest tenure, with a doubling of the forest area under community ownership (or administration over the past 15 years). There is every indication that communal tenure will double again over the next 15 years. Recognition of traditional and indigenous peoples' collective rights over forest lands has important implications for forest-rich countries—both developed and developing. Combined with dramatic changes in the structure of the forest industry and globalizing markets, this shift creates new opportunities and challenges for low-income forest producers and community enterprises to leave poverty and diversify livelihoods. The challenge for policy makers and governments is to reform outdated regulatory and incentive frameworks to support these enterprises. This article presents findings on three types of responses from communities to the new opportunities created by the tenure shift and looks specifically at community timber enterprise cases from Mexico and Brazil; recommending actions by communities, policy makers, and private sector. Changes in international and domestic forest product demand, consolidation of commodity wood sectors, new corporate responsibility commitments, and the emergence of ecosystem service markets all affect community markets. One response has been the emergence of socially-integrated, timber and non-timber based enterprises. Another has been the expansion of self-financed community conservation. A third response has been new models of collaboration between companies and communities.