Theorising Militant Groups' Meso-Level Evolution A Comparative Study of the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups

This research theorises militant groups' meso-level evolution from their emergence to their potential non-violent transformation. The central argument of this thesis is that the timing of militant groups' adoption of violence in semi-authoritarian regimes is crucial in accounting for their subsequent ideational and organisational evolution, according to a path-dependent model. When a militant group predates its legitimisation of armed violence, the time period preceding the latter encourages low-risk activism mobilising patterns, which are defined as safer modes of mobilisation that are not directly opposed by the state and therefore do not entail high individual costs. These mobilizing patterns facilitate the creation of strong horizontal ties between the group's leaders and the development of collective group identity shared by its leaders and members. These three factors collectively ease the internal legitimisation of shared horizontal and vertical organisational norms, which respectively refer to the norms uniting the leaders of the group and the norms uniting the leaders to their followers. Theses norms include the normalisation of the prerogatives of the group's leadership, an internal culture of consensus and shared decision making processes. These factors subsequently shape the group's evolution, whose possible non-violent transformation becomes contingent on the ability of its leadership to exploit external macro stimuli or internal learning processes, and to draw on the group's collective identity to internally legitimise a new strategic direction. Conversely, the second type of militant group is defined by its members' immediate engagement in high-risk activism forms of mobilisation, defined by their high individual cost caused by their intrinsically violent nature (e.g. staging a military coup). The combination of early ideational justifications of violence and its associated mobilising patterns fuel internal factionalism and hinder the legitimisation of internal norms of decision making and the consolidation of a controlled collective group identity. This mobilising pattern often sparks splits over any new tactical and strategic issues which may arise overtime, and eventually impedes the successful consensual transformation of this type of group in changing macro circumstances. This theorisation of militant groups' evolution is applied to the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups. This thesis is based on a social movement theory framework. It is a qualitative small-n comparative case-study research using field research and interviews with numerous leaders and members of these two groups

Phosphorus use efficiency in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as related to compatibility of association among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia

The tripartite symbiosis of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) recombinant inbred line (RIL) 147 with rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was assessed in sand culture by comparing the effects of three AMF species on the mycorrhizal root colonization, rhizobial nodulation, plant growth and phosphorus use efficiency for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Although Glomus intraradices well colonized roots of RIL147, Gigaspora rosea and Acaulospora mellea weakly colonized roots-plants. Higher colonization by Glomus was also obtained by contact with mycorrhized Stylosanthes guianensis. Significant differences among colonization and nodulation of the roots and growth were found between AMF species. Although the results showed that the double inoculation, especially with Glomus, induced a significant increase in all parameters whatever the AMF treatments in comparison to the control. In addition, the combined inoculation of Glomus and CIAT899 strains resulted in significantly higher nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation of common bean plants and improved phosphorus use efficiency compared with their controls which were not dually inoculated. It was concluded that phosphorus use efficiency for plant growth and nitrogen fixation could be improved by compatibility with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobial strain and common bean genotype, same under P limited.Key words: Acaulospora mellea, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus intraradices, Gigaspora rosea, nitrogen fixation, Phaseolus vulgaris, phosphorus, rhizobia, Stylosanthes guianensis, symbiosis

Design to reliability shielded vertical interconnection applied to microwave Chip Scale Packaging

This paper presents the electrical design, measurement and reliability ests of a shielded vertical interconnection dedicated to microwave solder-mount packages. Electromagnetic simulations show very good results up to 20 GHz. Test samples have been designed and manufactured. Electrical results are in accordance with the simulations with insertion loss lower than 0.1 dB up to 20 GHz for the proposed interconnection. Reliability tests of present no degradation of the after 500 thermal cycles in the [-55°C, +125°C] temperature range

: Comparaison de deux faisceaux de mobilité quotidienne

International audienceDans cet article, nous proposons d’analyser les comportements spatiaux de frontaliers qui traversent quotidiennement la frontière entre le Luxembourg et la France (faisceau de mobilité : Thionville-Luxembourg). Nous supposons que la frontière influence les plannings et les espaces d’activités des frontaliers et contribue à la formation de routines et de comportements spatio-temporels spécifiques. Ces particularités sont mises en évidence par la comparaison des comportements spatiaux de ces travailleurs frontaliers, confrontés à ceux d’actifs se déplaçant sur un faisceau de mobilité comparable non marqué par une frontière étatique : Voiron-Grenoble. Les analyses comparées, qui mobilisent deux enquêtes de mobilité standard CERTU, mettent en évidence un premier effet dérivé du différentiel frontalier sur le choix de localisation et la durée des activités quotidiennes des frontaliers : achats, loisirs, visites. Les travailleurs frontaliers présentent un ancrage résidentiel important car ces actifs passent davantage de temps à proximité de leur domicile. A contrario, les actifs non frontaliers privilégient la proximité du lieu de travail pour leurs activités routinières « secondaires »

Intégration spatiale des frontaliers à travers les activités quotidiennes. Le cas de la région métropolitaine luxembourgeoise.

National audienceThe number of cross-border workers in Luxembourg has steadily increased for over thirty years. The purpose of this article is to measure the integration of cross-border workers in Luxembourg by using the concepts of Time Geography and living spaces. The analysis focuses on the spatial and temporal organisation of the daily activities and their sequential location on both sides of the border. Thus, measuring living spaces and trip chains of cross-border workers represents the core of the methodological and analytical support. The juxtaposition of these trip chains with the living spaces allows identifying and characterising the degree of spatial integration of cross-border workers in Luxembourg. Apart from cross-border workers who are mainly shifting between their working place and their residence, the first results show a varying integration degreeLe nombre de travailleurs frontaliers au Luxembourg augmente de manière constante depuis 30 ans. Le but de cet article est de questionner l'intégration de ces frontaliers au Luxembourg au moyen de concepts issus de la Time Geography, en particulier celui des espaces de vie. Il s'agit d'analyser la répartition spatiale des activités quotidiennes, leur succession dans le temps et leur localisation par rapport à la frontière. Ainsi, la mesure des espaces de vie et des chaînes de déplacement des frontaliers constitue le principal support méthodologique et analytique pour identifier et caractériser le degré d'intégration spatiale de ces actifs au Luxembourg. Outre les simples déplacements domicile-travail qui n'engendrent pas d'activités secondaires, les principaux résultats témoignent de quatre autres types d'intégration spatiale plus ou moins importants

Assessing hydroaeroponic culture for the tripartite symbiosis of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia

Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) has the potential to establish symbiosis with rhizobia that fix atmospheric dinitrogen (N2), and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) that improve the uptake of low mobile soil nutrients such as phosphorus. Both rhizobial and mycorrhizal symbioses can benefit plants synergistically. The tripartite symbiosis of mungbean with rhizobia and AMF was assessed in hydroaeroponic culture under sufficient versus deficient P supplies (250 versus 75 μmol P plant-1 week-1) by comparing the effects of three AMF species on the mycorrhizal root colonization, rhizobial nodulation, and plant growth. Although, Glomus intraradices colonized well the roots of mungbean in sand and hydroaeroponic cultures, Gigaspora rosea only established well under sand culture conditions, and Acaulospora mellea weakly colonized roots under both culture conditions. Though significant differences of mungbean growth were found with different AMF species in sand, only few differences were observed in hydroaeroponic cultures. It is argued that the later will probably be a valuable tool for scrutinizing the interactions among the three symbionts, as well as plant  physiology, and nutrient partitioning within the symbiotic system.Key words: Acaulospora mellea, arbuscular mycorrhizal, Bradyrhizobium, Gigaspora rosea, Glomus intraradices, mungbean, phosphorus, symbiotic nitrogen fixation

R-SHT: A state history tree with R-Tree properties for analysis and visualization of highly parallel system traces

Understanding the behaviour of distributed computer systems with many threads and resources is a challenging task. Dynamic analysis tools such as tracers have been developed to assist programmers in debugging and optimizing the performance of such systems. However, complex systems can generate huge traces, with billions of events, which are hard to analyze manually. Trace visualization and analysis programs aim to solve this problem. Such software needs fast access to data, which a linear search through the trace cannot provide. Several programs have resorted to stateful analysis to rearrange data into more query friendly structures. In previous work, we suggested modifications to the State History Tree (SHT) data structure to correct its disk and memory usage. While the improved structure, eSHT, made near optimal disk usage and had reduced memory usage, we found that query performance, while twice as fast, exhibited scaling limitations. In this paper, we proposed a new structure using R-Tree techniques to improve query performance. We explain the hybrid scheme and algorithms used to optimize the structure to model the expected behaviour. Finally, we benchmark the data structure on highly parallel traces and on a demanding trace visualization use case. Our results show that the hybrid R-SHT structure retains the eSHT’s optimal disk usage properties while providing several orders of magnitude speed up to queries on highly parallel traces

Bricolages et arrangements des ménages dans les parcours de mobilité quotidienne. Entre ruse et vulnérabilité spatio-temporelle.

Le modèle résidentiel dominant implique le plus souvent un éloignement par rapport au lieu de travail. Économistes, géographes et sociologues ont montré les conséquences d’un tel choix résidentiel en termes de coût économique, de choix modal, d’impact environnemental et de répartition socio-spatiale des populations. Encore peu explorée, l’approche spatio-temporelle proposée cherche à mettre en perspective les modalités de gestion des longues distances quotidiennes domicile-travail notamment au travers des programmes d’activités. La réflexion examine l’équation spatio-temporelle des familles qui doivent concilier et articuler les différentes sphères de la vie quotidienne (travail, famille, déplacement) dans des situations de budget- temps sous forte tension en raison de cette distance. Elle fait l’hypothèse générale que la résolution de l’équation nécessite la mise en place de stratégies spatio-temporelles et d’ajustements réguliers au sein des ménages et dans l’environnement social et spatial proche. La mobilité quotidienne des frontaliers du Luxembourg, marquée par les longs déplacements domicile-travail et le franchissement d’une frontière étatique constitue un cas d’analyse pertinent, où la rupture entre espace de travail et espace de résidence prend des formes accentuées et particulières. Bien que les frontières tendent à s’effacer au sein de l’Espace Schengen, la recherche formule alors l’hypothèse qu’elles conservent un pouvoir organisateur sur les pratiques quoti- diennes des travailleurs frontaliers. La grille heuristique s’appuie sur le couple pratiques/représentations à partir duquel, des agencements spatio-temporels apparaissent et correspondent à des modes de vie spatialisés particuliers. Le premier niveau d’analyse qui porte sur les comportements spatiaux de l’ensemble des frontaliers du Luxembourg montre un fort ancrage résidentiel et des plannings d’activités courts et contraints. Une comparaison avec les comportements spatio-temporels d’actifs non frontaliers de Voiron (espace métropolitain grenoblois) conforte ces résultats et montre que les activités des frontaliers se déploient davantage à proximité du domicile. L’enquête qualitative met bien en évidence un rythme de vie particulièrement soutenu marqué par des tensions entre vie familiale et vie professionnelle. La distance temps est soutenable si elle s’assortit de proximités, familiales, spatiales, ou sociales. Face à ce rythme, des stratégies d’adaptation différenciées s’appuyant sur les ressources temporelles, économiques et sociales sont bien élaborées par les ménages en lien avec leur environnement proche. Dans les modes de vie spatialisés métropolitains qui se dessinent, l’agencement entre proximités sociales et distance au travail fait ainsi système. La frontière reste un élément organisateur des pratiques quotidiennes à travers l’éloignement résidentiel et la persistance de représentations complexes de l’espace voisin