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Este ensayo es un análisis de Donde y La ciudad perdida dos videometrajes del escritor puertorriqueñoEduardo Lalo (1960) y el tema de la ciudad-global, o más bien de las ciudades globales quehabitan el archipiélago "Puerto Rico". Mientras Donde mantiene un carácter autobiográfico y máspersonal, en el que se le da un vistazo a la experiencia cíclica e imposible del regreso, en La ciudadperdida Lalo produce un homenaje a los diversos espacios de la ciudad de San Juan. El "videometraje", un término acuñado por Lalo, revela de cierta forma un modo complejo de mirar. En ambasproducciones, el exilio del escritor, el "insilio" de la práctica literaria y creativa y la condición de laruina del presente global, unen las distintas geografías íntimas y citadinas del espacio.

The purpose of this paper on “Seme Border Closure and Nigeria’s Trading Partners in Africa” aimed at exploring the dynamics of the Nigeria’s land borders closure with Benin Republic as it affected her trading partners in Africa. Methodology adopted was descriptive design that relied on judgmental sampling technique. Secondary data (books, journal articles, monographs, internet materials etc) were sourced in Nigerian libraries and subjected to content validity before analyzing it qualitatively. Result of the findings revealed that smuggling of rice and petroleum product, including insecurity are the major reasons Nigeria closed land border with her immediate neighbour, Benin Republic. The closure has led to an increase in revenue accrued to the federation account and increase local rice production and consumption. Regrettably, it fostered inflation in Nigeria, triggered hardship in Benin Republic and prompted retaliatory measure from Ghana. Most importantly, the land border closure negated the essence of Nigeria being a signatory to the Economic community of West African States as well as a signatory to African Continental Free Trade Area. These findings have contributed to the understanding and further explanation of the Theory of Mercantilism. Nigeria cannot survive in isolation; hence, the paper recommends domestic policy adjustment that focuses on interest free loan to local producers as well as establishment of Joint Border Guard with immediate neighbours. These measures would lead to growth and development not land border closure that isolates Nigeria from the comity of nations and further denies her the benefit of globalization.

This article takes up the specific example of Poulo Condor (the Con Dao archipelago in Vietnam) as colonial prison island in order to examine this persistence of colonial island imaginaries built around the imagined project of the prison island well into the middle of the 20th century. Such imaginaries appear to run counter to dominant political discourse of the period along with ongoing media campaigns calling for the end to penal transportation and overseas penal colonies. This article contends that closer attention needs to be paid to the disjuncts and gaps between the official discourse of the French colonial authorities located in France and the enactment of such discourse in the colonies themselves. The central focus of the article is a close analysis of correspondence between colonial officials stationed in French Indochina from 1925 onwards; these documents will be contextualised with reference to the longer histories of both the Con Dao archipelago and France’s use of prison islands. An understanding of Poulo Condor as a complex extralegal space will be framed by Ann Laura Stoler’s concept of the ‘colony’ as it develops Giorgio Agamben’s notion of the ‘state of exception’ and Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘security’. What emerges is an ongoing colonial pathology which continues to fixate on the prison island as a key colonial stake even after such a stake has become increasing untenable.

This article explores the characteristics of preservation and restoration of religious monuments in Georgian SSR during the Soviet rule in the country. The nature of architectural restoration is analysed in the context of the USSR’s twofold approach to heritage sites—from disregard and demolition of ecclesiastical monuments as part of the anti-religious activism and modernization to the emergence of preservationist movement, which gained institutional coherence following World War II. The article shows that despite the controversial heritage politics of Soviet Union, it was during those years that the scientific-methodological approaches to restoration developed in Georgia (at that time, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic). However, rather than following the Soviet post-war reconstruction tendencies, it was implementing the Western European principles of conservation.

Information on species’ geographic distribution is essential in setting up key areas of conservation priorities and management policies. To date, there is a paucity of information on the primate species that inhabit some forest areas, including the forests along the Yewa River Basin located at the Nigeria-Benin Republic transboundary. To address this, we conducted a field survey across four relatively unexplored fragmented forest areas (Eggua, Igbo-Iju, Ibese and Ebute) within the Yewa River Basin. We recorded 441 individuals belonging to four species -Cercopithecus erythrogaster erythrogaster, Cercopithecus mona, Chlorocebus aethiops and Erythrocebus patas. Our observation record shows that C. mona has the highest encounter rate, while E. patas has the lowest. Our result reveals a seasonal displacement of individuals with the high number of individuals encountered during the rainy season. Most of the primate species (C. e. erythrogaster, C. mona, and E. patas) are of high conservation concern and are categorized as threatened species according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Our study improves knowledge of the primate species within some forests of the Yewa River Basin. We also recommend continuous survey and monitoring of primate species in this area and encourage community-based conservation policies to protect the primates and habitat.

espanolEste articulo esta basado en los materiales archivisticos guardados en los Archivos del Ministerio del Interior de Georgia. Uno de sus fondos mas importantes esta compuesto por los materiales del antiguo Archivo del Comite para la Seguridad del Estado (KGB) de RSS de Georgia. Los materiales que aqui se publican por primera vez describen en detalles la base legislativa de la organizacion de los campos para los presos militares, el uso de los presos como los constructores y agricultores, las condiciones de su salud y de alojamiento, y analizan el funcionamiento del campo y su papel en la economia de la Union Sovietica. EnglishThis article uses archival materials kept in the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. One of its main fonds is composed by former Soviet State Security (KGB) archive of the Georgian SSR. The materials used here describe in details the legislative base, POW-builders (facilities and scale), the exploitation of the POW workforce in agriculture, housing conditions of POWs as well as their physical conditions, and generate general conclusions regarding the conditions and functioning of the POW camps, revealing its role in the USSR economy and the assessment of the Soviet bureaucratic apparatus.

In August 2020, the presidential elections took place in Byelorussia, which, according to official data, were won by A. G. Lukashenko by a wide margin. The announcement of the preliminary election results provoked a protest reaction of the opposition forces, who declared the results to be falsified and mobilized part of the Byelorussian population for mass street protests. The authorities deemed these actions illegal and used force to suppress them. This gave the opposition and protesters grounds to criticize the authorities with renewed vigor, accusing them of violence and infringement of political freedoms. The representatives of the Orthodox Church (the Byelorussian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate) as well as of the Roman Catholic Church in Byelorussia reacted to the situation in the country, which caused a significant resonance in Byelorussia itself and abroad. The Byelorussian Exarchate did not support any of the conflicting sides, whereas Metropolitan Pavel, patriarchal exarch, unambiguously advocated the soonest cessation of the civil confrontation. At the same time, a few representatives of the clergy of the Byelorussian Exarchate publicly took the side of the protestors, including Archbishop Artemy of Grodno, but their statements were supported neither by the Synod of the Exarchate nor by the absolute majority of its bishops. The Roman Catholic Church, which has considerably smaller congregations in Byelorussia, also called for an end to the confrontation, but at the same time was much more immersed in the political agenda, poorly concealing its support for the opposition and protesters; the head of the Byelorussian Catholics at that time, Metropolitan T. Kondrusievicz, indirectly sympathized with the opposition as well. Despite the actual difference in the two churches' attitudes to the political situation, they both similarly appealed to spirituality and faith as a means of overcoming the conflict.

In the fall and winter of 1908, the Canadian government attempted to relocate South Asians living in British Columbia to British Honduras for indentured labour. Those in favour of relocation claimed that most South Asians were unemployed, were unable to survive winter, and could not adapt to Canadian society because of their religious beliefs. South Asians who opposed relocation challenged many of these claims and formed a wide network across the British Empire to foil this relocation. This study discusses the overlooked subject of the Canadian state’s attempts to remove South Asians who had already settled in the country, as well as the agency of South Asians in early-twentieth-century Canada. The documents examined throughout this article show that the British Honduras Scheme failed when South Asians could not be convinced that it served their interests and found that they possessed the necessary resources to challenge deportation.

The scarlet eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum L.) is an African traditional vegetable grown for its edibles leaves and fruits, which can contribute to food security in Republic of Benin. However, very little information is available on the genetic variability of this vegetable for varietal improvement purposes. Sixty accessions of scarlet eggplants collected throughout 52 villages in Benin republic were characterized using 34 (10 qualitative and 24 quantitative) variables. The experiment was laid out using complete randomized block design with three replications on the experimental site of Massi. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis revealed 18 discriminating quantitative variables. A strong correlation was observed between plant height, number of fruits per plant, fruit diameter, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. A cluster phenogram divided the 60 accessions into three groups corresponding to Kumba (Cluster 1), Gilo (Cluster 2), and Shum groups (Cluster 3). These groups differed by the number of seeds per fruit, weight of fruits, diameter of fruits, number of fruits per plant, plants height at flowering stage, plants length, and plant width. Accessions Samibi, Ikangougou, Kannan and Yetchanmiye with the highest fruit weight per plant can be used as parents in the framework of a scarlet eggplant breeding program in Republic of Benin. Key words: Benin, accessions, traits diversity, breeding program.

Tetragonia trigyna Banks & Sol. ex Hook.f. was the accepted name for a well-known coastal species in New Zealand from when it was formally named by J. D. Hooker in 1864 until the 1990s. In 1994, a ...

Cross border migration is the movement of people across their national boundaries, it is a phenomenon that cuts across tribes, religions, and status, it is a universal phenomenon, the quest for individuals to meet their basic requirements which will enable them to live a life free from fear and wants, engenders these phenomena. This paper examines the relationship between cross-border migration and the spread of infectious diseases: HIV and Tuberculosis in Nigeria and the Benin Republic. This study utilized a secondary method of data collection. Classical migration theory was the theoretical framework on which the study was anchored. Using descriptive statistics and Pearson Correlation Coefficient, as a method of data analysis, the findings revealed that cross-border migration contributed to HIV transmission among women in Nigeria and the Benin Republic; and Tuberculosis incidence in the Benin Republic. This study concludes that cross-border migration plays an essential role in the spread of HIV in women in Nigeria and Benin Republic respectively; and Tuberculosis in the Benin Republic. Based on the findings the study recommends; that governments of both Nigeria and Benin Republic should establish mechanisms for the screening of migrants and returnees at the point of entry to know their health status and improve health facilities by; providing rapid testing equipment, mobile laboratories, and clinics, formulate policies that will address the rights of migrants, provide health workers with adequate protective machines.

After collapse of the Soviet Union new sovereign states that emerged on its territory faced pressing problems of economic survival and development, provision of social needs and prevention of a political chaos. Under these conditions an optimum outcome seemed to be to find a mutually beneficial model of interstate relationship between these countries which accepting new political realities would preserve (and then – develop) positive results of their long-term economic interaction in the framework of the USSR single national-economic complex. However, a rather long time was actually required before centrifugal tendencies in the post-Soviet space were replaced by centripetal ones. And only by the end of the first decade of the 21st century Russia, Kazakhstan and Byelorussia – the top post-Soviet states in terms of GNP – succeeded in coordinating their positions in favor of a mutual economic cooperation, being in fact of an integration character, and take a decision to create for this purpose first the Customs Union, then – the United Common Space and finally – the Eurasian Economic Union. The article presents analysis of basic achievements and shortcomings of these integration associations, explores the step-by-step progress of the Eurasian integration process as well as the role in its development of cooperation with foreign partners. Also, major challenges and threats facing Russian political and economic national interests in the post-Soviet space are explored and principal ways and means to be undertaken for their elimination or neutralization are outlined. Also, the article explores the current state and development prospects of the Eurasian Economic Union which functions in conditions of a deep global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and problems at the world oil market. Besides these factors of a global character the EEU activities experience a serious negative impact of a number of regional problems and challenges – from a continuing regime of Western trade and economic sanctions and up to political maneuvers carried out by some EEU members (Armenia, Byelorussia) under slogans of multipolarity which resulted in a crisis of their domestic and foreign policies and also seriously undermined their participation in the EEU economic activities. General conclusion of the above analysis is made nevertheless in favor of positive prospects of the EEU development which has succeeded in preserving its viability under extreme conditions. This conclusion is also supported by all Union members officially stating their intention to continue their interaction and deepen mutual cooperation.

Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) is a legume that contributes to food security and poverty reduction in Benin. Unfortunately, its culture is subject to several undocumented constraints that contribute to decline in productivity and a loss of diversity. Therefore, documentation of production constraints, varietal diversity seed system and traditional uses of soybeans in main production area of Benin Republic is necessary for its conservation and sustainable use. To fill these gaps, 57 villages were prospected in southern and central Benin using the tools and techniques of participatory research such as individual surveys using a questionnaire and field visits. A total 445 soybean producers were surveyed in the study area. The results show that soybean local nomenclature and local taxonomy were mainly based on seeds size. Thirty-five soybean local varieties were recorded corresponding to 7 varieties differentiated by morphological seed characteristics. The number of soybeans local varieties ranged from 1 to 4 per village. Farmers have abandoned some soybean local varieties and the main reasons for abandonment were agronomics. Eight varietal preference criteria were identified in the study area with high yield and seed size being important. The ravages of hares and rabbits were the main constraints to soybean production in both region. The soybean seed system was essentially informal. Various uses (food, feed and commercial) of soybeans, which underlie its conservation in traditional Beninese agriculture, have been recorded. As part of the development of conservation strategy of an existing soybean diversity in southern and central Benin, morphological and molecular characterization were recommended.

Many accounts of Anglo-American relations during the early 1970s stress the tensions with Washington that marked the premiership of Edward Heath, as Britain moved to become a member of the European Economic Community, with particular attention given to the Year of Europe dispute during 1973. Over the issue of the American war in Vietnam, however, Heath’s Conservative Government stood out from other West European states in offering a grateful Nixon administration wholehearted support, even in the face of domestic political criticism, when American air power was used during 1972 with an intensity and scope not seen before. Although prepared to offer firm diplomatic backing for American actions, British officials were still keen to avoid any direct involvement, repudiating the kind of role they had played in the settlement of the French Indochina War in 1954. By early 1973 the Nixon administration, influenced by Heath’s recent public support over Vietnam, looked upon the British Government as a firm ally, a context which helps in understanding the disappointment experienced over the subsequent Year of Europe dispute.

The content reveals the essence of the tourist potential of Togolese regions, as a combination of investment, information, science, technology, natural and other resources in the given regions, taking into account its cultural, historical and socio-economic conditions that are prerequisites for the provision of a variety of Togolese’s tourist and recreational services aimed at improving the health of the population, the reproduction of labour and the development of the tourism sector in Togo.

The barque Vicar of Bray (1842) is a historically well-documented vessel which has transitioned from a beached hulk to a shipwreck at Goose Green in the Falkland Islands. The barque’s historical and archaeological contexts and its ties to the emerging world system of the nineteenth century are assessed as well as the ongoing site formation processes in an environmental zone that is in transition.

Male genitalia present an extraordinary pattern of rapid divergence in animals with internal fertilization, which is usually attributed to sexual selection. However, the effect of ecological factors on genitalia divergence could also be important, especially so in animals with nonretractable genitalia because of their stronger interaction with the surrounding environment in comparison with animals with retractable genitalia. Here, we examine the potential of a pervasive ecological factor (predation) to influence the length and allometry of the male genitalia in guppies. We sampled guppies from pairs of low‐predation (LP) and high‐predation (HP) populations in seven rivers in Trinidad, and measured their body and gonopodium length. A key finding was that HP adult males do not have consistently longer gonopodia than do LP adult males, as had been described in previous work. However, we did find such divergence for juvenile males: HP juveniles have longer gonopodia than do LP juveniles. We therefore suggest that an evolutionary trend toward the development of longer gonopodia in HP males (as seen in the juveniles) is erased after maturity owing to the higher mortality of mature males with longer gonopodia. Beyond these generalities, gonopodium length and gonopodium allometry were remarkably variable among populations even within a predation regime, thus indicating strong context dependence to their development/evolution. Our findings highlight the complex dynamics of genitalia evolution in Trinidadian guppies., Divergent ecological selection drives populations to evolve different trait values. Here, we evaluated whether the length and the allometry of the male guppy genitalia diverged between low‐ and high‐predation habitats. We found that the male genitalia is consistently longer only among high predation juveniles, but among adults, results were quite variable, such as for genitalia allometry.

Protected areas play an important role in the sustainable conservation of biodiversity. In southern Benin Republic, the Lama Forest Reserve is a refuge for wildlife. It also generates significant incomes for the local population. However, anthropogenic activities together with uncontrolled hunting are increasingly threatening the sustainability of these resources. The study aims at investigating the hunting activities characteristics and the morphometric traits of hunted species in the Lama Forest Reserve. Snowball method has been used to constitute the sample of field respondents. Descriptive and inference statistics have been carried out to show results and analyze data. The results show that twenty-three species are mainly hunted, more for trade than for subsistence, with a dominance of mammals. It should be noted that hunting activities don’t have the same level among hunted games, species and sexes although this is not generally significant statistically.

This article incorporates experimental writing which combines interior monologue written in Trinidadian Creole and Standard English. As importantly, the article explores personal experiences and responses to issues of assessment, promotion and tenure in an American university within the larger context of the relevant literature.

Mercury pollution of water bodies constitutes a hazard to both the aquatic life and the populations consuming fishery products. To anticipate the probable eco-toxicological risks that may arise from the largest lake in southern Benin, the present work aims at assessing the mercury status of the sediments of Lake Nokoué, while identifying the areas exposed to anthropogenic mercury contamination. 45 sites were sampled according to a grid plan covering the entire ecosystem of the lake. Employing a Van Veen grab, surface sediments are collected at a depth from 0 to 5 cm in three catches at each site. The composite samples formed at equal mass on the three portions were frozen, lyophilized at - 40 °C, crushed, sieved and homogenized. Fraction less than 63 µm was collected for the mercury content determination by Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA) operating by atomic absorption according to the US EPA 7473 method. The mercury concentration varies from 1.56 µg/kg to 164.88 µg/kg with an average value of 35.18 µg per kg of sediment. The south-eastern zone of the lake is more concentrated in mercury with a summation of the mercury content of 530.3 µg/kg of sediment. However, the lake has moderate contamination overall (1 ≤ FC ≤ 3). Keywords: Pollution, contamination, mercury, sediment, Lake Nokoué.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Japan promoted trade and investment in Southeast Asia, including French Indochina. As a subregion with an abundance of natural resources and potential consumption market, Indochina became an attractive destination for Japanese merchants and companies. The Japanese merchants moved into French Indochina from the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century together with the great surge of Japanese immigration to Southeast Asian countries since the end of the Meiji period. In the first phase, the number of Japanese merchants in Indochina was relatively small and mainly engaged in importing and exporting activities or grocery trading. In addition to merchants, Japanese economic zaibatsu and companies started to open representative offices or branches in Indochina such as Mitsui Bussan, Mitsubishi, Menka which focused on purchasing rice and coal. However, from the early 20th century to the late 1930s, commercial activities of Japanese merchants and companies in Indochina were restricted due to various reasons. From the late 1930s to the 1940s, along with Japanese commercial policy towards Southeast Asia, especially the entry of Japanese military into Indochina, the Japanese merchants and companies expanded their commercial activities in this region, through which the great impacts were put upon foreign trade activities in Indochina as well as the commercial relationship between Japan and Indochina.

How do certain social conflicts come to fall within the law? How does the law come to have its space? I argue that law emerged in British Honduras through a structure of racial differentiation. The law arrived as a mode of ordering space, bodies, and justice that realizes an immanent structure of racial difference. Racial difference thus founds the space of law. To advance this argument, I examine the record of the first criminal trial prosecuted in the place now called southern Belize—for the murder of an unnamed Indigenous woman by an enslaved Black man. Through an analysis of the trial record that draws upon Jameson’s reading of Greimas’s semiotic method, I show that the standing of the trial, as well as the evaluation of evidence, hinge upon the delineation and operation of racial categories. While British colonialism has ended, these categories persist.

The article is devoted to the replenishment of the VIR collection with plant genetic resources from the territories of the Philippines, Burma, Laos and Vietnam as a result of plant explorations, seed requests and germplasm exchange. In total, four collecting missions were sent to this region in the late 1970s and 1980s. Through their efforts, 2668 germplasm samples were collected and delivered to the Institute. The most numerous were the accessions of grain legumes (916), followed by vegetables (835) and groat crops (653). In addition to direct collection, the Institute was constantly engaged in requesting plant germplasm. In the prewar period, from 1925 to 1941, 396 accessions of cereal, groat, grain legume, vegetable, industrial and fruit crops were received from Burma, Vietnam, French Indochina (Laos since 1949) and the Philippines. From 1946 to 2019, 7928 accessions were added, with the largest number shipped from Vietnam (7840). Such a huge number can be explained by the activities of the Soviet breeding stations in Lai Châu Province, Northern Vietnam, and near Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam, in the 1980s and early 1990s. It should be noted that significantly fewer wild species and crop wild relatives were mobilized from these countries than from India, Indonesia and Ceylon – about 100 spp., or 10,992 accessions. Altogether, collecting teams brought from the South Asian tropical center of crop origin 18,594 germplasm samples, most of which were groat crops (4521). The prewar seed requests yielded 3520 accessions, with 1022 representing tropical woody, ornamental and medicinal plants from botanical gardens. Requests for germplasm from 1946 to the present time resulted in adding 16,687 accessions to the collection, half of which were groat crops (rice, maize and sorghum). A total of 39,161 accessions were received from the region.

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) is a rare, severe and lasting autoimmune disease that can vary in severity from mild to possibly life-threatening with a multi-system manifestation characterized by symptoms relating to joint, skin or mucosal inflammation, or with a varying degree of haematological abnormality or constitutional features, with women affected predominantly with peak onset (15-44) years of age. Aim: This study was aimed at estimating the incidence and mortality of Systemic Lupus Erythematous lupus in Milton Cato Memorial Hospital Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, including temporal trends and variations in age and sex from 2014 to 2018 by using routinely collected administrative health data/patient records. Methods: From 2014 to 2018, individuals with SLE were identified from the hospital records of Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, which records information on all patient coming in for healthcare services. A structured data extraction tool was employed to extract the data from the hospital record using the open data kit (ODK). Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 and R Studio statistical software for analysis. The Chi-square test was used to test for association. All statistical tests were two-tailed and Level of Confidence was set at 95%, and P=

This article describes, with the format of a journal, the day by day experience of an Italian nephrologist during one of his humanitarian missions in a hospital in the north of Benin Republic (a subSaharan country of West Africa). Besides the description of his clinical activity and educational programmes (focused on the teaching of the clinical importance of urinary sediment examination), the author supplies a view of the major limitations renal patients face everyday due to the lack of money and adequate diagnostic and therapeutical tools. The author concludes that this unacceptable situation is one aspect of the inequity existing between developed and underdeveloped countries.

This paper reviews the literature and previous research about the development of school libraries in South Pacific countries. Then the practical issues currently facing school libraries in the South Pacific are considered, drawing on recent experiences in Samoa, where the authors have worked together on the upgrading of libraries in government schools. Some of the issues arising from this work, and possible solutions, are discussed.

The current study provides a phonetic perspective on the questions of whether a high degree of variability in pitch may be considered a characteristic, endonormative feature of Trinidadian English (TrinE) at the level of speech production and contribute to what is popularly described as ‘sing-song’ prosody. Based on read and spontaneous data from 111 speakers, we analyze pitch level, range, and dynamism in TrinE in comparison to Southern Standard British (BrE) and Educated Indian English (IndE) and investigate sociophonetic variation in TrinE prosody with a view to these global F0 parameters. Our findings suggest that a large pitch range could potentially be considered an endonormative feature of TrinE that distinguishes it from other varieties (BrE and IndE), at least in spontaneous speech. More importantly, however, it is shown that a high degree of pitch variation in terms of range and dynamism is not as much characteristic of TrinE as a whole as it is of female Trinidadian speakers. An important finding of this study is that pitch variation patterns are not homogenous in TrinE, but systematically sociolinguistically conditioned across gender, age, and ethnic groups, and rural and urban speakers. The findings thus reveal that there is a considerable degree of systematic local differentiation in TrinE prosody. On a more general level, the findings may be taken to indicate that endonormative tendencies and sociolinguistic differentiation in TrinE prosody are interlinked.

PurposeThe first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was documented in China, and the virus was soon to be introduced to its neighboring country – South Korea. South Korea, one of the earliest countries to initiate a national pandemic response to COVID-19 with fairly substantial measures at the individual, societal and governmental level, is an interesting example of a rapid response by the Global South. The current study examines contact tracing mobile applications (hereafter, contact tracing apps) for those who were subject to self-quarantine through the lenses of dataveillance and datafication. This paper analyzes online/digital data from those who were mandatorily self-quarantined by the Korean government largely due to returning from overseas travel.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses an Internet ethnography approach to collect and analyze data. To extract data for this study, self-quarantined Korean individuals' blog entries were collected and verified with a combination of crawling and manual checking. Content analysis was performed with the codes and themes that emerged. In the COVID-19 pandemic era, this method is particularly useful to gain access to those who are affected by the situation. This approach advances the author’s understandings of COVID-19 contact tracing mobile apps and the experiences of self-quarantined people who use them.FindingsThe paper shows Korean citizens' understandings and views of using the COVID-19 self-tracing application in South Korea through examining their experiences. The research argues that the application functions as a datafication tool that collects the self-quarantined people's information and performs dataveillance on the self-quarantined people. This research further offers insights for various agreements/disagreements at different actors (i.e. the self-quarantined, their families, contact tracers/government officials) in the process of contact tracing for COVID-19.Originality/valueThis study also provides insights into the implications of information and technology as they affect datafication and dataveillance conducted on the public. This study investigates an ongoing debate of COVID-19's contact tracing method concerning privacy and builds upon an emerging body of literature on datafication, dataveillance, social control and digital sociology.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2020-0377

Three species of Cactaceae are considered native to Barbados and eight species to Grenada and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines. Melocactus intortus is reported for the first time from The Grenadines and the identity of Selenicereus innesii, a Saint Vincent endemic, is clarified. Lectotypes for Melocactus broadwayi, Cereus margaritensis, and Cereus grenadensis are proposed. Cereus plumieri, which was described on the basis of a Plumier’s illustration published 300 years ago, is finally observed in habitat and a new combination made in the genus Selenicereus. Morphological descriptions and distributions of the recognized species are provided.

International audience; Arc magmas derived from mantle melting often have trace element and isotopic signatures that indicate crustal contributions. The origin and extent of crustal contributions are critical constraints for quantifying crust-mantle recycling at subduction zones; however, it is difficult to distinguish between inputs from the downgoing oceanic slabs and that of the over-riding arc crust. Here we present a novel study using stable potassium (K) isotopes to fingerprint the long-debated crustal signatures in lavas from Martinique Island, Lesser Antilles arc. We find δ41K of Martinique lavas varies from −0.66 to 0.01‰ and correlates with chemical parameters and radiogenic isotope ratios. These correlations cannot be produced by assimilation of arc crust during magma ascent. Rather, they reflect mantle sources that have been modified by the input of subducted sediments. Most lavas display a strong negative correlation between δ41K and radiogenic isotopic compositions, from typical mantle values of −0.37‰ to much lower values of −0.66‰, suggesting the addition of

Climate dynamics and trends have significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts; however, in the Benin Republic, they are generally studied with diverse statistical methods ignoring the nonstationarity, nonlinearity, and self-similarity characteristics contained in precipitation time series. This can lead to erroneous conclusions and an unclear understanding of climatic dynamics. Based on daily precipitation data observed in the six synoptic stations of Benin Republic, in the period from 1951 to 2010, we have proposed (i) determining the local trends of precipitations, (ii) investigating precipitation nonlinear dynamics, and (iii) assessing climatic shift in the study period by Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method. To overcome the detrending issue in the standard MFDFA method, the EEMD algorithm is embedded into the MFDFA. The study period is subdivided into three subperiods: 1951–1970, 1971–1990, and 1991–2010. Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) are obtained according to the climatic region in which the stations are located. Results show that precipitation variation is significantly governed by the five first IMFs, in which oscillation periods vary from 1 to 25 days. The trend curves decrease at all the synoptic stations, and their slope values vary accordingly to the subperiods. Referring to the values of the multifractal spectrum parameters, α 0 , and the width of the spectrum w , consistent changes are observed regardless of the subperiods and the concerned stations. The spatial and temporal variability of precipitation indicates that the multifractal properties are good indicators for assessing changes in precipitation dynamics, and the changes in their features could be explained by the global change than by the local climate variation (climatic zones). Despite the observed differences in multifractal spectra properties from the three subperiods, it is not possible to verify the subdivision of 1951–2010 in three subperiods as it is done by previous studies in West Africa. Our findings can be used in the validation of global and regional climate models since a valid model should explain empirically detected scaling properties in observed data.

The relevance of the study is determined by the necessity of detailed consideration of various aspects of the history of the Great Patriotic War, the accumulation of all the positive experience of the national development of the oil industry. The purpose of the publication is to study the problem of the formation of the oil industry in the Turkmen SSR on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War, to identify the factors that determined the failure of the republic to fulfill its plans for oil production. The study was carried out on the basis of documents currently stored in the central state archives. The methodological basis was the theory of modernization. It is proved that the main reasons for the lag were: weak material base, short supply of equipment, shortage of qualified personnel, miscalculations in the state policy on development of the oil industry as a whole. Attention is focused on Academician Gubkin’s significant contribution to the development of the oil industry of Turkmenistan in the 1930s. The conclusion is formulated that during the Great Patriotic War, the importance of the oil-rich regions of Central Asia increased significantly. Qualified oil workers were sent there and equipment was evacuated. But oil industry of the Turkmen SSR, despite the exceptionally rich prospects, developed extremely slowly, partly for objective reasons, partly due to miscalculations in geological exploration. However, during the war years, an uninterrupted supply of oil and refined products to the front and rear was established, which was the result of the huge organizational efforts of the country's leadership and the industry, the consolidation of the actions and dedication of oil workers, scientists, builders, and transport workers of all the soviet republics.

Flooded rice cultivation fields appear to be the major source of methane emission. In Benin Republic, flooded rice is cultivated in the Niger River and Oueme River Basins. The present study aims to assess the contribution of flooded rice cultivation systems to methane emissions in the lower Oueme Valley. Methane emission calculation was based on Activity Data which is the flooded rice harvested surface area from 2008 to 2017. The Tier 2 methodology of the IPCC 2006 Guidelines’ and the complements of the “Refinement 2019” have been used to elaborate the specific emission factors for the lower valley of Oueme and to estimate the emission of methane in this zone. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with producers in order to elaborate on their perceptions of gas emissions in the flooded rice fields. The EX-ACT tool was used to estimate the carbon footprint of the intensive rice cultivation system “SRI” and the conventional rice cultivation system “SRC”. It is shown that producers have a strong perception of gas emissions in rice fields but are totally unaware of the nature of the gas. Methane emitted in the lower valley of the Oueme is around 528 tons/year between 2008 and 2017 while the carbon footprint resulting from the results of EX-ACT for the adoption of the SRI rises to the level of sequestration of approximately 0.4 tCH4/ha/year. The intensive rice cultivation system has been identified as the production system that minimizes methane emissions and maximizes rice production.

This research was conducted in the framework of the feasibility study related to FOCUSED-Benin project, the 5th work package of the YES-PV NIG BEN project financed by the German Government through its Ministry of Research and High Education (BMBF). The FOCUSED Benin project’s major objective is to protect the environment through the utilization of solar energy for drying agricultural products and table salt harvesting. Salt is important in human daily life. It is used for conservation of food, softening water, industrial processes, road de-icing, food seasoning, etc. Seawater evaporation, salt mining, and salt brine are the major sources of salt production worldwide. However, in West Africa, particularly in Benin Republic, table salt is produced using methods that negatively impact the ecology of the mangrove. This study aimed at investigating the current status of salt production in Benin Republic, its impact on the mangrove and its related health issues. Field visits, meeting with associations of women salt producers in the coastal region of the country, allowed to quantify the number of women associations dealing with salt production, their difficulties, and the impacts on the mangrove. Salt is a seasonal activity and is produced from January to May. One kilogram salt production, along with health issues reported by salt producers, requires approximately 1 kg of firewood obtained by cutting down mangrove. Salt price varies from 250CFA (€0.38) to 400FCFA (€0.61) per kg depending on the season. The women salt producers are not aware of the ecological consequences of mangrove destruction. Sources of firewood are becoming increasingly scarce and prices prohibitive. Sensitization is not efficient. An alternative method of harvesting salt by solar drying and new ideas for implementing this activity in a participatory approach was discussed with the different associations of salt producers.

Introduction The extra dural hematoma is a blood collection between the cranial vault and the dura mater. It is a neurosurgical emergency whose statistical data are poorly known in the Republic of Benin. Objective The aims of this study are to assess epidemiology, therapeutic and outcome of traumatic extra dural hematomas for children admitted to the surgical department of CHUD-B/A from 2012 to 2017. Methods This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and retrospective study over a period from January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2017. Results One hundred and seventy-eight cases of children aged between 0-15 years were examined for brain traumatic injury. Twenty-seven 27 (15.2%) cases of extra dural hematomas were retained. The most represented age group was between 11-15 years with a frequency of 42.1%. The male sex was more represented (78.9%). Road traffic accidents were the main aetiology (57.9%). 52.6% had a mild head injury, 26.3% had a moderate head injury and 21.1% had a severe head injury. On brain scan the frequently observed location was temporo-parietal (31.6%). Acute anemia was observed in 16 children. Seventeen children were operated on. The operation involved evacuation of extra dural hematoma by cranial bone flap with suspension of the dura mater. There were no deaths. Conclusion The availability of brain CT makes the diagnosis of extra dural hematoma easier. Its management is neurosurgical with a favourable post-operative evolution in all cases in this series.

There were five Polish national detachments within the Soviet partisan movement that officially operated on the territory of the Belorussian SSR during the Great Patriotic War. Their formation took place in 1943-1944. Each of them had their own special features, their own specific tasks; but they also had common characteristics. First of all, the partisans were associated with proSoviet political propaganda. In their actions, they were used as guides to the local population of Western Belarus, spreading ideas that had been elaborated by the Polish Communists. The author studies the impact of Soviet agitation on Polish partisan detachments, and investigates how much the Polish partisans were subjected to these ideas in their everyday life. Back in 1939-1941, a significant part of the Polish population of the western regions of the USSR had been subjected to repressions. Therefore, in the first months of the Great Patriotic war these people often supported the German occupiers. Why then would parts of the Polish population join the Soviet partisans? The Soviet command changed their attitude towards them, creating the opportunity for Polish partisans to keep their national traditions and to wear their military uniforms, in order to win the sympathy of the local Poles. They even accepted former anti-Soviet elements who had been put in prison in 1939-1941 but joined the red underground. Some of the formations were not totally covered by the left ideology and did not associate themselves with the Communists when agitating among the local population.

This paper aims to illustrate how forests, which play an important role in the economy, the environment, the military, and culture, were managed and used in French Indochina through the colonial period. The Forest Service’s plan involved rational, systematic logging with the participation of companies that generally excluded local inhabitants from the reserved forests and restricted forest use for their livelihoods. Also, the “communal reserves” established in some areas to prioritize locals’ forest use led to regional strife. Despite the colonial authorities’ view that maintenance of the abundant forests was a manifestation of their civilizing mission, the actual implementation of such policies was frequently accompanied by strict policies and repressive control. Friction existed between the various parties using the forest and the Forest Service concerning forest management. The views and behavior of the colonial authorities were also inconsistent, due to the multifaceted nature of the forests, which were at once natural treasures that supported people’s lives as well as a stage for conflicts between varied actors and interests, including local inhabitants, villages, outsiders, the Forest Service, and administrative agencies.

espanolLos registros historicos de entradas y salidas de navios de la costa malvinense permiten explorar las conexiones navieras del archipielago entre 1826 y 1914. La reconstruccion de dichas conexiones integrada con informacion heterogenea proveniente de distintos repositorios documentales y de bases de datos de viajes historicos, hace posible visibilizar las actividades y necesidades que convocaban a los barcos a las islas Malvinas, los distintos actores que formaron parte de su historia, el cambio de las relaciones maritimas de las islas antes y despues de la ocupacion britanica de 1833 y las conexiones internacionales del archipielago con puntos de la Patagonia continental y el estrecho de Magallanes. EnglishThe historical shipping records of the Malvinas Islands coasts allow us to explore the maritime connections that the archipelago had between 1826 and 1914. The reconstruction of such connections, integrated with heterogeneous information from different archives and databases of historical voyages, makes it possible to identify the activities and needs that brought ships to the Malvinas Islands, the different actors that were part of their history, the change in the maritime relation before and after the British occupation of 1833, and the international connections of the archipelago with different points in continental Patagonia and the strait of Magellan

Describing north east Nigeria without making mention of insurgency would be incomplete, as the resurgence of insurgent groups particularly Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād commonly refered to as Boko Haram have wreaked havoc in the region for close to 12 years. In response to the activities of insurgent groups, the African Union Peace and Security Council and the authority of the Lake Chad Basin Commission moved to expand the mandate of the MNJJT to include counter insurgency. The task force is made up of orcesrom Cameroon, Chad,Niger Nigeria and Benin republic. The task force have been able to make considerable gains against insurgency, however, insurgency still remains a major challenge in the region, which makes necessary an appraisal of the task force in justifying the purpose of its creation. The study reveals major challenges like inadequate technical knowhow, inadequate funding amongst others threatens the operations of the MNJTF. The paper recommends that military response is solely incapable of addressing insurgency, member States need to re-examine counter insurgency policies to be multidimensional.