41 research outputs found
Temperate agricultural systems: modelling the response of local biodiversity to human impacts
No full textImperial Users onl
Minorités linguistiques de langue officielle au Canada : citoyenneté, pouvoir et frontières linguistiques
No full textThis author accepted manuscript is published as Garon, Francis, and Lebel, Marie-Elaine. Minorités linguistiques de langue officielle au Canada: citoyenneté, pouvoir et frontières linguistiques." Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien,vol. 75, 2025.In this article, which combines political science and critical applied linguistics, we analyze how linguistic boundaries in Canada, more specifically in Quebec and Ontario, have evolved and influence the power of so-called ‘official language’ minorities in the exercise of citizenship. We aim to better understand how language issues contribute to shaping the contours of a political community, how they can foster inequalities, and how they are related to power relations. We are particularly interested in the effective power of official language minorities within the French-English boundaries, according to Tollefson's (2015) three conceptions of power: state power, ideological power, and discursive power. After examining the issue of citizenship in relation to linguistic boundaries and the formation of French-English linguistic boundaries in Canada from a historical perspective, we provide an over-view of Quebec’s anglophone minority and Ontario’s francophone minority, where the mismatch between the three forms of power are indicators of a hierarchical citizenship within the respective provinces.Dans cet article qui combine la science politique et la linguistique appliquée critique, nous analysons comment les frontières linguistiques au Canada, plus spécifiquement au Québec et en Ontario, ont évolué et influencent le pouvoir des minorités dites de « langue officielle » dans l’exercice de la citoyenneté. Nous cherchons notamment à mieux comprendre comment les questions lan-gagières contribuent à dessiner les contours d’une communauté politique, comment elles peuvent être porteuses d’inégalités et comment elles sont liées aux relations de pouvoir. Nous nous intéressons ainsi au pouvoir effectif des minorité de langue officielle à l’intérieur des frontières franco-anglaises, selon les trois conceptions du pouvoir de Tollefson (2015), à savoir le pouvoir éta-tique, le pouvoir idéologique et le pouvoir discursif. Après avoir examiné la problématique de la citoyenneté en lien avec les frontières linguistiques et la constitution des frontières linguistiques franco-anglaises au Canada dans une perspective historique, nous brossons un portrait de la minorité anglophone du Québec et de la minorité francophone de l’Ontario où l’inadéquation entre les trois formes de pouvoir sont notamment des indices d’une citoyenneté différenciée au sein des provinces respectives
The Director\u27s Choice: The Fine Line Between Interpretation and Infringement of an Author\u27s Work
No full textLa logique de l’acte de classification : postulat ou question pour l’analyse de la mobilité
No full textCe texte reprend une série de postulats sur lesquels reposent les analyses de mobilité, en particulier l'unanimité sociale fondamentale qui gouvernerait les orientations au sein d'une formation sociale. L'auteur tente de montrer que les critères de désirabilité sont encore mal établis et qu'en tout cas, l'idée d'unanimité à leur sujet est mal fondée, d'où le danger de définir une rationalité dans le processus de la réussite sociale qui implique une unanimité au sujet de l'échelle du désirable. Dans le but d'éliminer le danger du postulat de l'unanimité sociale qui raie toute analyse du sens, dans le but également d'indiquer les voies que ce type d'analyse peut prendre, l'auteur présente dans un deuxième temps les conclusions d'une étude permettant de définir, à partir de textes rédigés en classe par des étudiants de diverses origines sociales, l'ensemble des catégories qu'ils utilisent pour classifier les gens de leur entourage; cette analyse démontre la charge idéologique qui investit la rationalité du discours " petit-bourgeois " à ce niveau élémentaire de la définition dès catégories de base, et la résistance que le discours ouvrier lui oppose.This paper examines a series of postulates upon which rest the analyses of mobility, in particular the fundamental social unanimity that would govern orientations within a social formation. The author attempts to show that the desirability criteria are still not well established and that in all cases, the idea of unanimity with respect to them is ill-founded; from this comes the danger of defining a rationality in the process of status attainment which implies a unanimity with respect to the scale of desirability. In order to eliminate 22. R. Savard, " L'hôte maladroit, essai d'analyse d'un conte montagnais ", Interprétation, vol. 4, n° 3, déc. 1969, p. 48. thé danger of postulating a social unanimity which hinders any analysis of meaning, and also in order to indicate the paths that such an analysis can take, the author presents in the second part the conclusions of a study based on texts written in class by students of diverse social origins, and allowing one to define the set of categories that they use for classifying the people around them; this analysis provides evidence for the ideological loading which bears upon the rationality of the " petit-bourgeois " discourse at the elementary level of the definition of fundamental categories, as well as for the resistance offered to it by the working class discourse.Este texto retoma una serie de postulados sobre los cuales descansan los análisis de mobilidad, en particular la unanimidad social fundamental que dirigiría las orientaciones en el seno de una formación social. El autor trata de mostrar que los criterios de deseabilidad están aún mal establecidos, y que en todo caso la idea de unanimidad a ese respecto está mal fundada; de allí el peligro de definir una racionalidad en el proceso del éxito social que implica una unanimidad al sujeto de la escala de lo deseable. Con el fin de eliminar el peligro del postulado de la unanimidad social que borra todo sentido del análisis, con el fin igualmente de indicar las vías que este tipo de análisis puede tomar, el autor presenta en una segunda etapa las conclusiones de un estudio que permite definir, a partir de textos redactados en clase por estudiantes de diversos orígenes sociales, el conjunto de categorías que ellos utilizan para clasificar las personas de su medio; esta análisis demuestra la carga ideológica del discurso " pequeño burgués " a ese nivel elemental de la definición de categorías de base, y la resistencia que le opone el discurso obrero
Venus Lander Design
No full textThe students designed an Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system for a lander to reach the surface of Venus. The students used a combination of 3D modelling and programming to design the EDL within given constraints under specific tolerances. An EDL takes into consideration entry flight dynamics, aeroheating, and landing systems. The EDL was divided into three stages (see below). The separation of stages was designed to address unique challenges found at different points throughout the EDL. The primary objective of the first stage was to minimize the heat associated with the entry velocity to the payload. The second stage implemented a parachute to reduce velocity such that the descent time criteria could be met. The third stage involved landing design. Through the use of six simultaneous differential equations, the flight of the vehicle was determined. The system was optimized by modifying craft parameters and initial conditions to meet objectives. After optimization, the revised values of position and velocity were obtained at every time step during descent. The vehicle velocity was used to calculate the heat rate to the heat shield of the entry vehicle. Through the use of a parachute, drag was increased to extend the time of flight and to slow the vehicle for landing. Designs were implemented to minimize impact force to the lander and maintain proper orientation during landing.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1204/thumbnail.jp
Shade : a differentially private wrapper around Apache Spark
No full textThesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-88).Enterprises usually provide strong controls to prevent external cyberattacks and inadvertent leakage of data to external entities. However, in the case where employees and data scientists have legitimate access to analyze and derive insights from the data, there are insufficient controls and employees are usually permitted access to all information about the customers of the enterprise including sensitive and private information. Though it is important to be able to identify useful patterns of one's customers for better customization and service, customers' privacy must not be sacrificed to do so. We propose an alternative - a framework that will allow privacy preserving data analytics over big data. In this paper, we present an efficient and scalable framework for Apache Spark, a cluster computing framework, that provides strong privacy guarantees for users even in the presence of an informed adversary, while still providing high utility for analysts in an interactive wrapper. The framework, titled Shade, includes two mechanisms - SparkLAP, which provides Laplacian perturbation based on a user's query and SparkSAM, which uses the contents of the database itself in order to calculate the perturbation. We show that performance of Shade is substantially better than earlier differential privacy systems without loss of accuracy, particularly when run on datasets small enough to fit in memory, and find that SparkSAM can even exceed performance of an identical non-private Spark query.by Alexander G. Heifetz.M. Eng
The Google Book search settlement: A law and economics analysis
No full textBeginning in December 2004 Google has pursued a new project to create a book search engine (Google Book Search). The project has released a storm of controversy around the globe. While the supporters of Google Book Search conceive the project as a first reasonable step towards unlimited access to knowledge in the information age, its opponents fear profound negative effects due to an erosion of copyright law. Our law and economics analysis of the Book Search Project suggests that – from a copyright perspective – the proposed settlement may be beneficial to right holders, consumers, and Google. For instance, it may provide a solution to the still unsolved dilemma of orphan works. From a competition policy perspective, we stress the important aspect that Google’s pricing algorithm for orphan and unclaimed works effectively replicates a competitive Nash-Bertrand market outcome under post-settlement, third-party oversight.Book Rights Registry; Competition Policy; Copyright; Fair Use; Google Book Search; Library Program; Orphan Works
Fibers and fabrics for chemical and biological sensing
No full textWearable sensors can be used to monitor many interesting parameters about the wearer’s physiology and environment, with important applications in personal health and well-being, sports performance and personal safety. Wearable chemical sensors can monitor the status of the wearer by accessing body fluids, such as sweat, in an unobtrusive manner. They can also be used to protect the wearer from hazards in the environment by sampling potentially harmful gas emissions such as carbon monoxide. Integrating chemical sensors into textile structures is a challenging and complex task. Issues which must be considered include sample collection, calibration, waste handling, fouling and reliability. Sensors must also be durable and comfortable to wear. Here we present examples of wearable chemical sensors that monitor the person and also their environment. We also discuss the issues involved in developing wearable chemical sensors and strategies for sensor design and textile integration
Durability of an inorganic polymer concrete coating
No full textThe objective of the research p4rogram reported in this thesis is to evaluate the durability of an inorganic polymer composite coating exposed to freeze/thaw cycling and wet-dry cycling. Freeze/thaw cycling is performed following ASTM D6944-09 Standard Practice for Resistance of Cured Coatings to Thermal Cycling and wet/dry cycling is performed following guidelines set forth in a thesis written by Ronald Garon at Rutgers University. For both sets of experiments, four coating mixture proportions were evaluated. The variables were: silica/alumina ratio, mixing protocol using high shear and normal shear mixing, curing temperatures of 70 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit and use of nano size constituent materials. The mix with highest silica/alumina ratio was designated as Mix 1 and mixes with lower ratios were designated as Mix 2 and Mix 3. Mix 4 had nano silica particles. Four prisms were used for each variable including control that had no coating. The performance of the coating was evaluated using adhesion strength measured using: ASTM D7234 Test Method for Pull-Off Strength of Coatings on Concrete Using Portable Adhesion Testers. Tests were performed after every five consecutive cycles of thermal conditioning and six consecutive cycles of wet-dry exposure. Results from the thermal cycling and wet-dry testing demonstrate that all coating formulations are durable. The minimum adhesion strength was 300 psi even though a relatively weak base concrete surface was chosen for the study. The weak surface was chosen to simulate aged concrete surfaces present in actual field conditions. Due to the inherent nature of the test procedure the variation in test results is high. However, based on the test results, high shear mixer and high temperature curing are not recommended. As expected nano size constituent materials provide better performance.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Kenneth Wasserma
Maternal childhood abuse and neglect predicts offspring development in early childhood: the roles of reflective functioning and child sex
No full textBackground: Recent evidence suggests that offspring of mothers having been exposed to childhood abuse and neglect (CA&N) are at increased risk of developmental problems and that boys are more affected by maternal CA&N than girls. Since impairments in reflective functioning (RF) have been associated with maternal CA&N and offspring development, RF could represent a key mechanism in these intergenerational risk trajectories. Objective: This study evaluated mediating (RF) and moderating (child sex) mechanisms in the association between maternal CA&N and child development. Participants and setting: In a longitudinal setting, 111 mothers completed measures during pregnancy and between 11 and 36 months postpartum. Methods: CA&N and impairments in RF were assessed during pregnancy and offspring development was measured during the longitudinal follow-up using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3). Child development was operationalized in two ways: using the global score at the ASQ-3 and using a dichotomous score of accumulation of delays across domains of development. Results: Structural equation modeling indicated that RF mediated the association between maternal CA&N and offspring development. Child sex moderated the association between CA&N and the clustering of developmental problems (Wald = 5.88, p = 0.02), with boys being particularly likely to accumulate developmental delays when their mother experienced CA&N (RR = 2.62). Accumulation of developmental problems was associated with impairments in maternal RF in girls and with maternal exposure to CA&N in boys. Conclusions: Results provide novel insights on the role of mentalization and child sex in the association between maternal CA&N and child development. © 2021 The Author
