Subjective Vitality of Lebanese Adults in Lebanon: Validation of the Arabic Version of the Subjective Vitality Scale

Subjective vitality is an indicator of eudaimonic well-being that refers to the feeling of being alive and full of energy. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), awareness of what is truly occurring in the present is conducive to subjective vitality. The current study examined the construct validity of the Subjective Vitality Scale and its relation to sociodemographic variables and Experiential Self-Knowledge (ESK), a theoretically relevant awareness construct, in the Lebanese cultural context. A convenient sample of 301 Lebanese adults residing in the Greater Beirut Area completed the Arabic translations of the 6-item Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS) and the 13-item ESK Scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a unidimensional factor structure for the Arabic SVS. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses also provided evidence of configural, metric, structural, and scalar invariance across sex. With respect to sociodemographic variables, sex was the only significant correlate and predictor of subjective vitality, with males reporting greater levels of subjective vitality than females. Consistent with Self-Determination Theory (SDT), awareness as assessed by the ESK Scale was found to be a positive correlate and predictor of subjective vitality such that those who scored higher on experiential self-knowledge also reported greater levels of subjective vitality. These findings provide preliminary support for the construct validity of the Arabic translation of the SVS in the Lebanese context and highlight the potential role of awareness in eudaimonic well-being.     

A mathematical model of a theoretical sleeping sickness vaccine

ABSTRACT

Human African sleeping sickness is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It affects up to 70,000 individuals per year, primarily the poor. Existing treatments are limited, costly, and often toxic. Recent evidence suggests that a vaccine may be viable. Potential vaccines against Rhodesian sleeping sickness may be imperfect, may only be delivered to some proportion of the population, may wane over time, and may not always mount an immunogenic response in the individual receiving it. The potential effects of such a vaccine are addressed and compared to vector control. The basic reproductive ratio for both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals is derived. The fitness ratio is used to show that vaccines that grant longer life must be accompanied by a corresponding reduction in transmissibility. A sensitivity analysis shows that control of tsetse flies through insecticide is superior to an idealized vaccine. Such a vaccine is unlikely to eradicate the disease, even if delivered to 100% of the population. Consequently, efforts to control sleeping sickness that do not incorporate vector control may be flawed.     

Richness, composition and trophic niche of stingless bee assemblages in urban forest remnants

Few studies directly address the consequences of habitat fragmentation for pollinating insect communities, particularly for the neotropical key pollinator group of stingless bees. Most studies on bees have defined habitat fragments as remnant patches of floral hosts or forests, overlooking the nesting needs of bees. Their conclusion is that habitat fragmentation is broadly deleterious; however, there are contrasting results in the literature. Insightful studies on habitat fragmentation and bees should consider fragmentation, alteration and loss of nesting habitats—not just patches of forage plants –, as well as the permeability of the surrounding matrix to interpatch movement. Here we investigated the effects of fragmentation caused by urbanization on stingless bee species’ composition and richness, as well as the permeability of the surrounding matrix. We collected bees from flowering plants and recorded phytosociological variables of five forest remnants (ranging from 64 ha to 900 ha) in southeastern Brazil. Large fragments did not contain more species per unit area than smaller ones; in fact, we found more species in small fragments, most of which were generalist bees. The presence of more habitat generalist stingless bee species was also correlated to the structure of vegetation in these fragments. In conclusion, the quality of the habitat within a fragment (structure of vegetation) as well as the quality of the matrix has a direct relation to the bee species composition. This can be seen in the direct relationship between structural diversity of the environment and age of the fragments. The matrix that holds the most recent fragments, probably due to the sprawl of the city, is more heterogeneous than the one with the oldest fragments. The most heterogeneous matrices have a certain balance between the trees, buildings and bare soil or herbaceous vegetation coverage, making the array less impermeable to bees.     

Le métier de conseiller d’insertion et de probation : dans les coulisses de l’État pénal ?

This study of the changing profession of “counselors of integration and probation” (conseillers d’insertion et de probation, Cip) proposes a sociology of occupational groups that takes into account both statutory and moral considerations. Turning social services in prisons into a “penitentiary service of integration and probation” has involved professionalization, “juridicization” (with a shift from social work to the field of law) as well as a switch from a “compassionate” toward a “repressive” pole of interventions. Based on a survey conducted in prison, this study of work situations and conflicts helps us formulate the problems of ruptures and continuities in relation to both these employees’ individual trajectories and the institutional framework of their actions. This case study of Cip, an occupational group seen herein as a litmus test of what the penal institution does to persons under a court order, enables us to imagine an ethnography of the “state in acts”.