The Challenge of Tribal Relations in Chad: Impacts on Socioeconomic Development

The multitude of different tribes in Africa is what makes the continent rich and diverse. At the same time, this diversity, when combined with self-centered and exclusive behaviors, can yield detrimental impact on the economy and society. This dissertation examined tribalism, defined as favoritism based on kinship, and its impacts on socioeconomic development on the Republic of Chad. Specially, this research investigated tribalism and its direct and indirect influence on corruption, human capital potential, social justice, and socioeconomic development in Chad. This mixed-methods study comprised a two-phase design. The first phase was mainly a quantitative survey that was administered to 161 participants, followed by a qualitative approach comprised of semi-structured interviews. Finally, an integrated analysis, synthesizing findings from the two phases, provided a comprehensive view on tribalism and its impact on socioeconomic development in Chad. Findings from this study demonstrated that while tangible progress has been made on many fronts in Chad, participants’ perception about tribalism, corruption, human capital potential, social justice, and socioeconomic development indicated that more work remains to be done. The study also highlighted the existence of multiple linkages among tribalism, corruption, human capital potential, social justice, and socioeconomic development. The findings further indicated that in addition to direct linkages with socioeconomic development, tribalism indirectly influenced development goals through corruption, human capital potential, and social justice. Finally, the results and insights informed the creation of an emergent model on tribalism and its impacts on socioeconomic development. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Model for Small neutrino masses at the TeV Scale

We propose a model for neutrino mass generation in wich no physics beyond a TeV is required. We extend the standard model by adding two charged singlet fields with lepton number two. Dirac neutrino masses $m_{\nu_D} \leq MeV$ are generated at the one loop level. Small left handed majorana neutrino masses can be generated via the seesaw mechanism with right handed neutrino masses $M_R$ are of order TeV scale.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Biham-Middleton-Levine Traffic Model With Origin-Destination Trips

We extended the Biham-Middleton-Levine model to incorporate the origin and destination effect of drivers trips on the traffic in cities. The destination sites are randomly chosen from some origin-destination distances probability distribution "ODDPD". We use three different distributions: exponential, uniform and power-law. We consider two variants of the model. In conserved particles model (Model A), drivers continue their travelling even if they reached their destinations. In non-conserved particles model (Model B), a driver which reaches its destination disappears with rate $\beta$. It is found that the traffic dynamics in model A and the evacuation processes in model B are greatly influenced by the ODDPD. On one hand, we found that we can adjust the ODDPD to enhance the road capacity of the city and to minimize the arrival times of drivers in particles conserved system and to optimize the evacuation time of drivers in non-conserved case. On the other hand, we find that, independently on the ODDPD, the evacuation time $T$ of drivers diverges in the form of a power law $T \propto \beta^{-\nu}$, with $\nu=1$.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Duality of almost limited operators

We establish necessary and sufficient conditions under which positive almost limited operators between Banach lattices have almost limited adjoints and positive operators with almost limited adjoints are themselves almost limited. Also, we give some consequences.peerReviewe

Banach lattices with the positive Dunford-Pettis relatively compact property

The paper is devoted to such Banach lattices E that every Dunford-Pettis and weakly null sequence (x_n) ⊂ E with disjoint terms is norm null (the positive Dunford-Pettis relatively compact property). It is established that a Banach lattice E has the positive Dunford-Pettis relatively compact property if and only if its almost Dunford-Pettis subsets are L-weakly compact. Consequently, we derive the following result: Banach lattices with the property that their almost Dunford-Pettis subsets are relatively compact, are precisely the discrete KB-spaces.peerReviewe

Duality of almost limited operators

We establish necessary and sufficient conditions under which positive almost limited operators between Banach lattices have almost limited adjoints and positive operators with almost limited adjoints are themselves almost limited. Also, we give some consequences.peerReviewe

Characterization of groundwater quality in Oran Sebkha basin

Growing populations and increasing industrialization causes increase in living standard, which result in decrease in the quality of water and may put stresses on natural waters by impairing both the quality of the water and the hydrological budget. This research aimed at determining the origin of the chemical elements of groundwater from the Oran Sebkha basin. It applied the inverse geochemical modeling to derive the sources of variation in the hydrochemistry. Fifty five (55) water samples were selected from different point in Oran Sebkha basin for sampling purpose in July 2011. Physico-chemical parameters such as pH and electric conductivity were measured in situ. Moreover, chloride, sulfate, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, were measured in the laboratory. Inverse geochemical models of the statistical groups were developed using PHREEQC to elucidate the chemical reactions controlling water chemistry. The inverse geochemical modeling demonstrated that relatively few phases are required to derive water chemistry in the area. In a broad sense, the reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the area fall into three categories: (1) dissolution of evaporite minerals; (2) precipitation of carbonate minerals; and (3) weathering reactions of silicate minerals. The high values of the physico-chemical parameters of water obtained in the present study sites indicate a variation in the physico-chemical parameters and demonstrated that relatively few phases are required to derive water chemistry in the area. Range of values were found as pH (5.1-7.6), conductivity (720-15820 μS cm-1), chloride (994-7810 mg l-1), sulfate (6.1-112.4 mg l-1), alkalinity (421-19962 mg l-1), calcium (80-680 mg l-1), magnesium (212.4-4525 mg l-1), sodium (124.2-4687.4 mg l-1) and potassium (0.9-42.5 mg l-1).Key words: Physico-chemical parameters, water, Sebkha

Black hole mass and angular momentum in topologically massive gravity

We extend the Abbott-Deser-Tekin approach to the computation of the Killing charge for a solution of topologically massive gravity (TMG) linearized around an arbitrary background. This is then applied to evaluate the mass and angular momentum of black hole solutions of TMG with non-constant curvature asymptotics. The resulting values, together with the appropriate black hole entropy, fit nicely into the first law of black hole thermodynamics.Comment: 20 pages, references added, version to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit