GLIMPSE IN THE WORLD OF DEAF PEOPLE: DEAFNESS AND DEAF EDUCATION

This paper works on the definition of deafness, and who is considered as deaf. The first part of the work talks about the causes of deafness, distinguishing the congenital causes from the acquired causes. Then, the paper analyses the various impacts of hearing loss in the life of deaf people. The second part of the work discusses the issue of deaf education, emphasising the use of sign language as the key means for the development of deaf children literacy skills. The problem raised in this paper is the lack of appropriate knowledge of the mass population on the notion of special education and the needs of persons living with a handicap, especially deaf people, and the paper ends up discussing the issue of special education for deaf learners

Application of a Mathematical Model to the Analysis of the Influence of Length and Diameter on Log Drying Rate

A mathematical model based on the water potential concept was used to simulate the effect of length and diameter on the drying rate of aspen logs. The moisture content-water potential relationship and the effective water conductivity were determined during independent experiments. The set of equations describing heat and mass transfer during the drying process were solved by the finite element method. As expected, diameters and lengths had a strong effect on log drying rate. Smaller diameter logs dried faster than larger ones. Shorter logs dried faster than longer ones. Over a critical diameter or length value, however, there was no further marked difference in drying rate for larger or longer logs. For a given length, drying was predominantly radial in smaller diameter logs, whereas in larger logs, longitudinal drying was predominant. For longer logs, drying occurred essentially in the radial direction

Performance du système de santé camerounais dans la protection financière des ménages

Pour contribuer à la performance du système de santé, l’objectif de l’article est d’analyser sur le long terme sa capacité à protéger les ménages  contre les risques financiers liés à la santé. Les deux principales variables étudiées sont l’incidence de la catastrophe financière et l’appauvrissement  des ménages dus aux dépenses de santé, mesurés à partir des données des trois dernières Enquêtes Camerounaises Auprès des Ménages (2001,  2007 et 2014) et selon plusieurs approches pour assurer la robustesse des estimations. Une nette amélioration de la protection financière s’observe  entre 2001-2007 sous la mise en oeuvre des politiques engageant de fortes dépenses sociales. Tandis qu’entre 2007-2014, la situation s’est plutôt  dégradée sous les politiques de croissance inclusives engagées. L’analyse au Cameroun et ailleurs montre que la meilleure performance en matière  de protection financière en santé est plus liée à la gouvernance et à la structure économique qu’à une politique de financement de la santé. Une  bonne combinaison de politiques de financement ciblées est suggérée. Ainsi que le développement d’une économie peu extravertie devant soutenir  un système de santé autonome, doté d’une offre suffisante et de qualité, et avec un système efficient et transparent de mise en oeuvre et  suivi-évaluation. To contribute to the performance of the health system, the objective of the article is to analyse over the long term its ability to protect households  against financial risks related to health. The two main variables studied are the incidence of the financial catastrophe and the impoverishment of  households due to health expenditure. They are measured from data from the last three Cameroonian Household Surveys (2001, 2007 and 2014)  and according to several approaches to ensure the robustness of the estimates. A marked improvement in financial protection can be observed  between 2001-2007 under the implementation of policies involving high social expenditure. While between 2007-2014, the situation rather  deteriorated under the inclusive growth policies undertaken. Analysis in Cameroon and elsewhere shows that the best performance in health  financial protection is more related to governance and economic structure than to health financing policy. A good combination of targeted financing  policies is suggested.  As well as the development of a less extroverted economy to support an autonomous health system, endowed with sufficient and quality supply. The said health system should also have an efficient and transparent system of implementation and monitoring- evaluation

Moisture Content-Water Potential Relationship of Sugar Maple and White Spruce Wood From Green to Dry Conditions

The moisture content-water potential relationship was determined at 40°C and 60°C for sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) sapwood and at 60°C for white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss.) heartwood from green to dry conditions. The pressure membrane technique was used for high moisture contents and equilibration over salt solutions for low moisture contents. The results show that at high moisture contents, the equilibrium moisture contents obtained from the green condition are lower than those obtained from full saturation (boundary desorption). It is recommended that the sorption history must be taken into account when modeling wood drying. Water potential at a given moisture content increases with temperature. There is a characteristic plateau in the green moisture content-water potential relationship obtained for sugar maple at water potentials between -2,000 and -6,000 J kg-1, which can be attributed to its heterogeneous capillary structure. The maximum concentration of effective pore radius occurs at 0.02 μm in the case of sugar maple, corresponding to the size of the pit membrane openings

Genetic dating and pattern of admixture in modern human evolution

Genetic variation is shaped by admixture between populations in an evolutionary process. The mixture dynamic between groups of populations results in a mosaic of chromosomal segments inherited from multiple ancestral populations. The distribution of ancestral chromosomal segments and the recombination breakpoints in an admixed genome provide information about the time of admixture. Studying populations with particular ancestries has become a major interest in population genetics because of medical and evolutionary impacts of the patterns of single nucleotide polymorphisms. It provides a better understanding of the impact of population migrations and helps us uncover interactions between several populations. Most of the research on admixed population dating has focused on a single interaction between two populations using various approaches. Some have extended this to mixing of three populations based on assumptions and approaches which differ from one tool to another. However, the inference of distinct ancestral proportions along the genome of an admixed individual and plausible dates of admixture, still remain a challenge in the case of multi-way admixed populations. This dissertation consists of three research initiatives. First, provide a succinct review of current methods for dating the admixture events. We accomplish this by providing a comprehensive review and comparison of current methods pertinent to date admixture event. Second, we assess various admixture dating tools which estimate the time of admixture between two parental populations. We do so by performing various simulations assuming a particular number of generations and use these to evaluate the tools. Third, we apply the top three assessed methods to some admixed populations from the 1000 Genomes project. Despite MALDER shows improvement and produces reasonable date estimates over other current methods, the results from both simulation and real data suggest that dating ancient admixture events accounting for the effect of other admixtures remains a challenge. Our results suggest the need for developing a new approach to date ancient and complex admixture events in multi-way admixed populations