980 research outputs found
Unraveling the Complexities of the Coloniality Thought in Africaâs Post-Colonial Identity
In African history, modernity has endowed whiteness with ontological density far above blackness as identities. Since modern Western thinking is controversial, colonialty operates through radical lines that divide social reality into two realms, the realm of this side of the line and the realm of the other side of the line.â For some, there are doubts about Africanâs ignorance, knowledge, and power. At the outset, the so-called age of reason, or enlightenment, as commonly referred in the West, coincided with slavery, slave trade, and colonisation.
The starting hypothesis for the inquiry is that decoloniality seeks to unmask, unveil, and reveal coloniality as an underside of modernity that co-existed with the rhetoric of progress, development, equality, fraternity, and liberty. Peopleâs epistemic struggles are a salient feature of African studies. The core questions arising therefrom are how does Africaâs post-colonial identity stand within the realm of the oppressed in reference to real-world interventions or in any resistance to them? In the search for alternatives to domination and oppression, how could the continent develop strategies to roll back oppression and domination, defend its cultural identity, economic self-sufficiency, and political sovereignty?
This paper analyses postcolonial identity from the prism of coloniality, the status of the colonised, and decolonial epistemic perspective. It contributes to renewed efforts at clarifying African history from the margins and efforts to account for the long duration of the global South agency. I argue that the Northern epistemology, a methodology for dividing the world between regions of order and chaos, sustains the ingredients of the postcolony. In other words, the Euro-North episteme has distorted, bastardised, and ignored Africaâs post-colonial identity. Decoloniality is both an epistemic and political artifact seeking the liberation of Africans who experienced colonialism and who are today subsisting and living under the boulder of global coloniality
Les efforts des bamileke de l'Ouest-Cameroun pour adapter leur agriculture à l'accumulation démographique et pour sauver leur équilibre alimentaire contre les "agressions" de l'économie marchande
Hedge Fund Industry: Performance Measurement, Statistical Properties and Fund Characteristics
In questa tesi, lâanalisi verte su risk-adjusted performance, proprietĂ statistiche e caratteristiche dei fondi hedge (FH). Nel primo articolo, i risultati relativi al survivorship bias e backfill bias indicano che lâimpatto delle distorsioni Ăš diverso a seconda delle strategie. Utilizzando il modello multifattoriale di Fung and Hsieh (2004), lâanalisi della performance indica che il 42% dei FH ha ottenuto un rendimento superiore al mercato. Infine, utilizzando dei metodi parametrici e non parametrici, lâanalisi della persistenza indica differenti livelli di persistenza a seconda della strategia. Nel secondo articolo, vengono analizzati i fondi di fondi hedge (FOHFs). I risultati sono particolarmente interessanti. In primo luogo, i FOHFs e le sotto strategie hanno generato un excess return positivo; inoltre lâalfa ottenuto attraverso il modello a 7 fattori di Fung and Hsieh (2004) risulta elevato. In secondo luogo, i FOHFs e le sotto strategie hanno un rendimento inferiore a quello dellâindice dei FH. In terzo luogo, le correlazioni tra gli indici dei FOHFs e lâindice azionario sono inferiori rispetto alle correlazioni tra lâindice dei FH e gli indici azionari. Infine, lâindice dei FH e quelli dei FOHFs sono positivamente correlati con lâindice azionario quando il mercato tende al ribasso, ma risultano non correlati con lâindice azionario quando il mercato tende al rialzo. Rispetto allâindice dei FH, gli indici dei FOHFs hanno una correlazione minore con gli indici azionari in entrambe le fasi del mercato, suggerendo che i FOHFs forniscono benefici maggiori in termini di diversificazione rispetto ai fondi hedge puri.In this thesis, I examine the risk-adjusted performance, statistical properties and fund characteristics of hedge fund investments. In Essay One, results of survivorship bias and backfill bias by investment styles indicate that biases are different across styles. Using a multi-factor model of Fung and Hsieh (2004), the analysis of performance indicates that 42% of the hedge funds significantly outperformed the market. Finally, using parametric and non-parametric methods, the analysis of persistence indicates different degree of persistence depending on the hedge fund strategy. In Essay Two, I analyse fund of hedge funds (FOHFs). I find several interesting results. First, FOHFs and the sub-strategies earn positive excess returns and a high Fung and Hsieh 7-factor alpha. Second, FOHFs and the sub-strategies underperform the hedge fund index (HFI). Third, the correlations between FOHF indices and equity index are lower than correlations between HFI and equity indices. Finally, hedge funds and FOHFs are positively correlated with the equity index in the bear markets but uncorrelated with the equity index in the bull markets. Compared to HFI, FOHF indices have lower correlation with equity index in both bull and bear markets, indicating that FOHFs provide better diversification benefits than individual hedge funds
Phosphoinositide 3kinase Îł controls LPSinduced myocardial depression via sequential cAMP and iNOS signaling
Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung ist die AufklĂ€rung der spezifischen Rolle der lipidkinase-abhĂ€ngigen und âunabhĂ€ngigen Funktionen von PI3KÎł bei SIRS-induzierter SIMD. Bei PI3KÎł-Wildtyp (wt), Knockout (PI3KÎł-/-), und Kinase-dead (PI3KÎłKD/KD) MĂ€use wurde eine LPS- induzierte SIRS induziert und deren Ăberleben, die Auswirkungen auf das kardiale autonome Nervensystem (ANS) und die linksventrikulĂ€re (LV) kontraktile Funktion ermittelt. DarĂŒber hinaus wurden an primĂ€ren adulten Kardiomyozyten mechanistische Untersuchungen zu PI3KÎł-abhĂ€ngigen Auswirkungen auf die myokardiale KontraktilitĂ€t und die inflammatorische Antwort durchgefĂŒhrt
Fragilisation des brasures d'interconnexions pour la reprise de puces microélectroniques.
Avec lâavĂšnement des nouvelles technologies et la demande croissante en Ă©quipements toujours plus performants, on assiste de plus en plus Ă la miniaturisation et la complexification des dispositifs microĂ©lectroniques (lois de Moore). Cette miniaturisation passe par lâoptimisation des modes dâassemblages de composants permettant la densification et lâintĂ©gration de puces de fonctionnalitĂ©s diverses dans un mĂȘme module. Toutefois, la complexitĂ© de ces dispositifs â dits dâintĂ©gration hĂ©tĂ©rogĂšne â introduit un rĂ©el besoin dâun procĂ©dĂ© de reprise de puces pour la rĂ©paration de potentielles dĂ©fectuositĂ©s induites lors de leur assemblage. Les procĂ©dĂ©s actuels de reprise de puces microĂ©lectroniques utilisent des mĂ©thodes thermiques pour ramollir (~ 200°C) les brasures dâinterconnexions afin de retirer la puce dĂ©fectueuse, et ce au risque dâendommager le substrat organique thermosensible ou les bonnes puces adjacentes. De plus, ces procĂ©dĂ©s traditionnels ont montrĂ© leurs limites lorsquâil sâagit de puces Ă interconnexions Ă pas fins oĂč les interconnexions possĂšdent une plus grande quantitĂ© de composĂ©s intermĂ©talliques (IMC) ayant un point de fusion trĂšs Ă©levĂ© (~ 400°C). Il devient donc important de mettre sur pied des procĂ©dĂ©s alternatifs de reprises de puces dĂ©fectueuses qui seraient compatibles avec les nouvelles gĂ©nĂ©rations de puces microĂ©lectroniques Ă densitĂ© Ă©levĂ© dâinterconnexions (ex. interconnexions Ă pas fins ou ultrafins).
Ă cette fin, cette thĂšse dĂ©veloppe une nouvelle mĂ©thode de sĂ©paration de brasures dâinterconnexions Ă plus faible tempĂ©rature (< 100°C) qui exploite un des modes de dĂ©faillance connus des mĂ©taux solides (la fragilisation par mĂ©tal liquide (FML)) pour faciliter le retrait de la puce dĂ©fectueuse. La FML est le phĂ©nomĂšne qui dĂ©finit la perte de ductilitĂ© (ou une dĂ©gradation des propriĂ©tĂ©s mĂ©caniques) dâun mĂ©tal solide lorsquâil est au contact dâun mĂ©tal liquide donnĂ©. Les rĂ©sultats obtenus dans cette thĂšse ont permis de confirmer la fragilisation de lâalliage de brasure Ă©tain-argent-cuivre (SAC) par le gallium (Ga) liquide, et une analyse complĂšte de lâĂ©volution de la microstructure des brasures SAC a permis dâĂ©tablir le modĂšle de fragilisation en prĂ©sence. La cinĂ©tique de diffusion du Ga liquide dans les brasures dâinterconnexions a Ă©tĂ© Ă©tablie et sâest avĂ©rĂ©e ĂȘtre en accord avec les mĂ©canismes de fragilisation mis en jeu lors de lâexposition des brasures dâinterconnexions au Ga liquide. De plus, la particularitĂ© des puces Flip-Chip â oĂč les brasures sont inaccessibles individuellement et confinĂ©es dans un gap â a motivĂ© la crĂ©ation dâĂ©mulsions Ă base de Ga liquide. Lâoptimisation de lâaction capillaire du Ga liquide dans le gap et de son adhĂ©rence sur la surface des brasures a permis dâeffectuer avec succĂšs le retrait dâune puce Flip-Chip avec une rĂ©duction (de plus de 50%) de sa rĂ©sistance mĂ©canique et aucun rĂ©sidu de Ga restant sur le module. Une Ă©tude prĂ©liminaire de lâaction du Ga liquide sur les mĂ©tallisations sous-jacentes des brasures a permis de dĂ©montrer le risque minimal de la mĂ©thode sur la fiabilitĂ© du module final (pour des substrats avec contacts en cuivre renforcĂ© dâune finition de surface au nickel). Finalement, les rĂ©sultats prĂ©sentĂ©s dans cette thĂšse dĂ©montrent la faisabilitĂ© de lâutilisation de la fragilisation des brasures dâinterconnexions comme base dâun nouveau procĂ©dĂ© de reprise de puces microĂ©lectroniques Ă faible tempĂ©rature
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