This study examines the life and scholarship of a French Dominican friar, Serge de Beaurecueil (1917 - 2005). His life time investigation of the mystical dimensions of Islam centered around the life and corpus attributed to the 11th century Hanbalī Sūfī shaykh‘Abdullāh Ansārī of Herāt (1006 - 1089). The thrust of our argument is that this erudite and mystical conversation with the work of the Pīr of Herāt is a methodology and a theology of dialogue with the religious other. This mystical and prophetic journey combines the Ashramic spirituality of Jules Monchanin and Henry Le Saux in India, a masterdisciple relations, the ethical demands of interfaith dialogue, and finally testifies to the hidden and abiding presence of God among the downtrodden of Kabul. Also, de Beaurecueil’s life ascertains the rich and varied heritage of Dominican spirituality and lays bare the conundrums of interfaith encounter. The introduction sets the stage for the friar’s mystical and prophetic life among Muslims. The first two chapters are biographical. They scrutinize the formation period and professional life of both de Beaurecueil and AnSārī. The following two chapters describe de Beaurecueil intellectual and spiritual growth. His erudition on the corpus of AnSārī and his praxis mystica fit perfectly the Dominican tradition of search for Truth (Veritas) and contemplata aliis tradere. The last chapter attempts to couch in a philosophical language a mystical encounter. Even though de Beaurecueil’s praxis mystica is both attractive and intimidating, his life is a bold testimony to the demanding complexities and rich opportunities of Christian-Muslim mystical encounter.

Inducement prizes-where cash rewards are given to motivate the attainment of targets--have been long used to encourage scientific research, develop technological innovations, or stimulate individuals, groups, and communities to accomplish diverse goals. Lately, prizes have increasingly attracted the attention of policy-makers, among others, due to their potential to induce path-breaking innovations and accomplish related goals. Academic research, however, has barely investigated these prizes in spite of their long history, recent popularity, and notable potential. This research investigates prizes and the means by which they induce innovation. It uses an empirical, multiple case-study methodology, a new model of innovation applied to prizes, and multiple data sources to investigate three cases of recent aerospace technology prizes: a main case study, the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) for robotic Moon exploration; and two pilot cases, the Ansari X Prize (AXP) for the first private reusable manned spacecraft and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC) for flights of reusable rocket-powered vehicles. The investigation unveils the dynamics of prizes and contributes a better understanding of their potential and disadvantages in a context in which more traditional mechanisms are used to induce innovation. This research shows that prizes are a more complex mechanism and their investigation requires analyzing entrant- and context-level factors generally not considered by the literature. Prizes complement and not replace patents and other incentive mechanisms. The incentives offered by prizes attract entrants with diverse characteristics, including unconventional entrants--individuals and organizations generally not involved with the prize technologies. Entrants are generally attracted by the non-monetary benefits of participation and the potential market value of the technologies involved in competitions. Many more volunteers, collaborators, and partners also participate indirectly and support official entries as they also perceive opportunities to accomplish their personal and organizational goals. The monetary reward is important to position the competition in the media and disseminate the idea of the prize. Prizes can induce increasing R&D activities and re-direct industry projects to target diverse technological goals, yet the evolution of prize competitions and quality of the technological outputs is generally difficult to anticipate. The overall organization of prize R&D activities and their outputs depend on entrant-level factors and can only be indirectly influenced by setting specific competition rules. The most remarkable characteristic of prize R&D activities is their interaction with fundraising efforts which, in some circumstances, may constrain the activities of entrants. Prizes can also induce innovation over and above what would have occurred anyway, yet their overall effect depends significantly on the characteristics of the prize entrants and the evolution of the context of the competition. The ability of prizes to induce innovation is larger when there are larger prize incentives, more significant technology gaps implicit in the prize challenge, and open-ended challenge definitions. To successfully induce technological breakthroughs, prizes may require complementary incentives (e.g. commitments to purchase technology) or support (e.g. seed funding.) Prizes are particularly appropriate to, for example, explore new, experimental methods and technologies that imply high-risk R&D; induce technological development to break critical technological barriers; accelerate technological development to achieve higher performance standards; and, accelerate diffusion, adoption, and/or commercialization of technologies. They involve, however, higher programmatic risks than other more traditional mechanisms and their routine use, and/or challenge definitions that overlap, can weaken the incentive power of the mechanism. Successful implementation of competitions requires many parameters to be properly set.

Les manuscrits sub-sahariens, jusqu’ici peu accessibles, regorgent encore d’importants ouvrages dans bien de domaines. Cette thèse traite deux d’entre eux en lexicographie et en grammaire, il s’agit respectivement de : Iḍā’at al-Uḍmūs wa Riyāḍat al-Nufūs min Isṭilāḥ Ṣāḥib al-Qāmūs d’Aḥmed b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. al-Rashīd al-Sijlmāsi, al-Mālikī (1761), qui constitue un commentaire sur la méthodologie du livre al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ ; et de : Shifā’ al-Ṣudūr fī Ḥalli alfāẓ al-Shudhūr de Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Schams al-Din al-Jawjarī al-Shāfi’ al-Miṣrī (1484) constituant également un commentaire du célèbre ouvrage en grammaire d’Ibn Hishām : Shudhūr al-Dhahab. Ce traitement a consisté à faire une édition scientifique de leurs textes pour fournir au lecteur un texte prêt pour la lecture : vocalisation, ponctuation, apparat critique, typographie dont le but n’est pas de donner une image de ces manuscrits, mais de transformer ces manuscrits en livre. Cette thèse a scruté les variantes entre trois copies de l’ouvrage Iḍā’at al-Uḍmūs et deux copies de l’ouvrage Shifā’ al-Ṣudūr pour en rétablir les textes, mentionné les éventuelles erreurs, retracé les sources et émettre des commentaires pour éclaircir certains passages en faisant référence à une bibliographie variée et multiple. / Until recently the Sub-Saharan manuscripts have been inaccessible and thus include many major works in numerous fields. This thesis deals with two such works in the qreq of lexicography and grammar, namly: Iḍā’at al-Uḍmūs wa Riyāḍat al-Nufūs min Isṭilāḥ Ṣāḥib al-Qāmūs d’Aḥmed b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. al-Rashīd al-Sijlmāsi, al-Mālikī (1761), which is also a commentary on the methodology of the book al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ; and al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ ; et de : Shifā’ al-Ṣudūr fī Ḥalli alfāẓ al-Shudhūr de Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Schams al-Din al-Jawjarī al-Shāfi’ al-Miṣrī (1484) which is also a commentary, dealing with the famous book of grammar by Ibn Hishām: Shudhūr al-Dhahab.This treatment of these manuscripts involved the making a scientific edition to provide a ready to read text, with the provion of vocalization, punctuation, critical apparatus and typography with the purpose not giving an image of these manuscripts, but to transforming them into a book.This thesis has scrutinized the variations between three copies of the book: Iḍā'at al-Uḍmūs and two copies of the book Shifā’ al-Ṣudūr in order to restore the texts; it has mentioned the errors encounred, traced the sources and made comments to clarify some passages by referring to a varied and plentiful bibliography.