Politiques régionales: traitement du malade ou maladie du guérissaur?

Abstract. The author develops three main propositions on regional inequalities and related policies. First, regional inequalities of incomes and salaries do not originate from differences in productivity but the other way round. Low productivity results from low wages, which are in turn rooted in conditions of overpopulation in certain areas. As for differences in unemployment levels, they are brought about by government-determined barriers to the smooth adaptation of labour supply to demand conditions, including minimum wage legislation, union power and job licensing legislated by governments (Rand formula, closed corporations). Second proposition: Regional policies, of which DREE'S activities are only a part, have had minimal effects on the redistribution of investments and employment between the various regions. In addition such poor results as have been achieved represent a heavy burden on taxpayers, as well as on workers through the misallocation of capital. Finally, in addition to being inefficient, policies with strong regional incidences do exert a real wealth transfer effect. This is the basis for their adoption, given the institutional setting in which the public sector operates. The benefits of regional subsidies are concentrated in the hands of a small number of individuals in outlying areas, whereas the burden is thinly & on the whole of the Canadian (or provincial) population. Each beneficiary has more to gain from these measures than each loser stands to lose.     

Quelle profondeur historique pour l’image de la Vierge Marie au Congo?

This article explores some of the historical layers, both exogenous and local, which should be taken into account when contextualizing the apparitions in Kinshasa of “Our Lady of Disarmament” in the 1990s. The article also points to political elements of the cult of Mary which was introduced into the Congo by the Belgian Catholic Church basking in a wave of religious revivalism from the 1890s to the 1930s and which was illustrated by the statue of Notre-Dame du Congo, widely prevalent throughout the colony. The history of the presence of Mary in the religious vision of the people of Angola and Western Congo also shows the vestiges of early Christianity as traced in the language, archaeology and popular rituals which survived the age of ghettoisation imposed from outside on the region in the 18^th and 19th centuries.     

Analytical aspects in doping control: challenges and perspectives

Since the first anti-doping tests in the 1960s, the analytical aspects of the testing remain challenging. The evolution of the analytical process in doping control is discussed in this paper with a particular emphasis on separation techniques, such as gas chromatography and liquid chromatography. These approaches are improving in parallel with the requirements of increasing sensitivity and selectivity for detecting prohibited substances in biological samples from athletes. Moreover, fast analyses are mandatory to deal with the growing number of doping control samples and the short response time required during particular sport events. Recent developments in mass spectrometry and the expansion of accurate mass determination has improved anti-doping strategies with the possibility of using elemental composition and isotope patterns for structural identification. These techniques must be able to distinguish equivocally between negative and suspicious samples with no false-negative or false-positive results. Therefore, high degree of reliability must be reached for the identification of major metabolites corresponding to suspected analytes. Along with current trends in pharmaceutical industry the analysis of proteins and peptides remains an important issue in doping control. Sophisticated analytical tools are still mandatory to improve their distinction from endogenous analogs. Finally, indirect approaches will be discussed in the context of anti-doping, in which recent advances are aimed to examine the biological response of a doping agent in a holistic way.     

Public choice in a federal system

Except for the mobility constraints imposed on political decisions of lower-level governments, public choice analysts assume that the working of the political process under federalism remains the same at all levels of governments as under unitary state. This paper argues that one dimension of the political process in a federalist framework lends itself to specific economic analysis, namely the fact that, once constitutional limits break down and functions overlap, two or more levels of government compete for the same voters in the supply of services in a given territory. Viewing votes as inputs in the production of political outputs, the conventional analysis of allocation under common-property rule should shed light on the outcome of this process. The analysis shows that it is in the interest of both suppliers to seek to gain the votes in being first to implement programs. There are thus two forces operating in a typical federalist system, an expansionist one rooted in the political dynamics analysed here, and a restrictionist one based on the mobility of resources among decentralized entities. This may explain why the empirical record is rather mixed on the contribution of federalism to containing government growth. The consequences of this process are derived and possible avenues for improvement are explored.     

Stature estimation from radiographically determined long bone length in a Spanish population sample

The estimation of stature from of a variety of bones is an important aspect of forensic work. In order to obtain reliable results, it is important to have comparative data obtained from the same population group as the skeletal remains. However, lack of up to date information on the population groups of Southern Europe makes the estimation of stature from bones in this area subject to possible error. In this study, the stature of 104 healthy adults from Spain was measured, and an anteroposterior teleradiograph of the right lower and the right upper limb of every subject in the study was made in order to measure the lengths of the femur, tibia, fibula, humerus, cubitus and ulna. Pearson's regression formulae were obtained for both limbs. In males, we found the femur to be the most accurate predictor of stature (R = 0.851), whereas in females best results were obtained with the tibia (R = 0.876).     

Hatred,A Solidification of Meaning

While friend/enemy are commonly perceived to be mutually constitutive opposites, it is not so evident that hatred is the opposite of love. Hatred is oriented by two ideologies specific to European thought—‘nature’ as an illusory universal, and the ‘ego’ (me, moi), distinct from the ‘I’, as an irreducible expression of identity. The origins of racial hatred in naturalised hierarchical classification at the time of European colonial expansion demonstrates how naturalism and egoism combined to produce an over-valuation of one’s own self or group as authentic or pure. Drawing on Pascal, Fanon and Derrida, this essay challenges the autonomous, self-loving and naturalised sense of self. It calls for education as a form of action against racial hatred, including hate-speech. It suggests that the dignity or absoluteness of each individual or group should be thought as a ‘sense’ which cannot be reduced to a meaning. This is in contrast to hatred which presupposes closed or solidified meanings.