Human Rights and the Leap of Love

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of Henri Bergson’s death I present what I believe is his most vital and lasting contribution to political philosophy: his conception of human rights. This article has two goals. The first is to present Bergson’s writings on human rights as clearly and simply as possible, so as to reach the wide audience it deserves. The second is to demonstrate his relevance for contemporary human rights scholarship. To do so, I connect him to recent debates in the history and historiography of human rights. I also highlight his distinctive approach to human rights as furnishing a tool for individuals to work upon and improve themselves. For Bergson, the great promise of human rights is that they simultaneously open new possibilities to care for others and also to care for oneself.

Determination of the diffusion coefficient of oxygen for a cover system including a pulp and paper by-product

ABSTRACT: Among the several solutions that have been proposed to curb the problem posed by the generation of acid rock drainage (ARD), the placement of covers with capillary barrier effect (CCBE) has received particular attention. With the creation of a capillary barrier, oxygen has to migrate through a nearly saturated layer, a much slower process than in air. As a consequence, its availability is drastically reduced, reducing ARD generation. An experimental procedure was developed to obtain the diffusion coefficient of oxygen through compacted deinking residues, an organic matter-rich by-product of paper recycling. With the oxygen concentrations obtained as a function of time, it was possible to deduce the diffusion coefficients based on the best reproductions of laboratory results, using the computer code POLLUTE v.6. As expected, it was found that the diffusion coefficient—and the associated flux—is highly influenced by the degree of saturation of the sample. Beyond a threshold in the vicinity of 85 %, a one order of magnitude drop in the diffusion coefficient was observed. A comparison of the results obtained with previously published data shows that deinking residues constitute a very effective oxygen barrier material due both to its ability to maintain a high degree of saturation and to rapidly consume oxygen. Given the latter, special care was needed in defining the most appropriate equipment design, sample preparation method, and testing procedure

A simple field method to qualify the state of saturation in capillary barriers

Abstract: A simple and straightforward field method to rapidly qualify the state of saturation of moisture retaining layers (MRL) is proposed and the details of its calibration and operation, described. The technique is based on the simple fact that if gas samples cannot be taken from a stainless tube that is inserted to the desired depth within the MRL, the air filled voids at that depth are not interconnected and the material can be qualified, for all practical purposes, as saturated. In this case, the threshold degree of saturation beyond which gas flux substantially decreases (approximately 85 %), has been attained. In several sites covered with deinking by-products (DBP), an industrial residue that can be used as alternative construction material for landfills and acid-producing mine sites covers, it has been often impossible to collect gas samples below approximately 20 cm from the surface of the DBP layer. The question was thus to know if this is a reliable indicator that the threshold degree of saturation has or not been attained and that the layer is performing its role of gas barrier. In order to answer this question, a calibration was performed in the laboratory and in the field. The calibration consisted mainly on attempting to extract gas from samples compacted at different degrees of saturation. The results show that the threshold degree of saturation for DBP is attained at approximately 83 %

Environmental, geotechnical and hydraulic behaviour of a cellulose-rich by-product used as alternative cover material

Abstract: Deinking by-product (DBP), a cellulose-rich by-product produced in the early stages of the paper recycling process, has been used as alternative material for the construction of cover systems for municipal waste disposal facilities and acid-producing mine residues. Considering the high organic content of this material, covers constructed with it are susceptible to biodegradation, thus to changes in their properties with time. With the goal of identifying the biodegradation parameters that could influence the long term behaviour of DBP covers, an experimental laboratory program was developed and a series of 15 samples of DBP were monitored in biodegradation tests, for 400 days. Periods of intermittent water percolation allowed for collection of leachate. The evolution of gas and leachate production was monitored in terms of quality and quantity. According to the results obtained, the hydraulic and geomechanical properties of importance for a cover do not seem to be adversely affected by the level of biodegradation of the DBP or by mass loss

Determination of the soil water characteristic curve of highly compressible materials: Case study of pulp and paper by-product

Abstract: A technique was developed for the determination of various points of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC)—including the air entry value (AEV)—of compressible materials from one single test. The testing setup, which employs the axis-translation technique, is presented and the testing methodology, explained.With the proposed methodology, it is possible to determine the volume of the sample at various stages of the desaturation process, thus making it possible to determine the degree of saturation and volumetric water content for each level of suction applied. The results of some tests performed on deinking residues (DR), a fibrous and highly compressible industrial by-product used in geoenvironmental works, are presented and discussed. It is shown that if volume changes that samples undergo during desaturation are not considered, the volumetric water content and degree of saturation of the sample is underestimated at all suction values. One important consequence is that lower hydraulic conductivities are obtained from mathematical models based on the SWCC

Anaerobic biodegradation of an organic by-products leachate by interaction with different mine tailings

Abstract: Deinking by-products from paper recycling has been used as cover material on acid-producing tailings. Due to remaining cellulose, anaerobic degradation leads to the production of an organic-rich leachate, which may percolate through the tailings. This study aims at describing the influence of the tailings’ characteristics on the attenuation of organic matter in leachate and at discussing the degradation mechanisms. To this end, leachate was mixed with different types of tailings, includ ing three unoxidized tailings with varying acid generation potentials and one tailing in three states of oxidation. Regularly, selected biochemical parameters were analyzed to access the evolution of organic components. The results show that when deinking by-products leachate was placed in contact with tailings, phase and acid-base balance reactions took place in the beginning. Subsequently, oxidationreduction reactions dominated the chemistry of the system. The type, the constituents and the state of oxid ation of the mine tailings condition the mechanisms of biodegradation of organic components. Methanogenesis was predominant in the control sample (pure organic leachate) but was absent in all leachate-tailings mixes. No biodegradation was observed in the liquid phase for oxidized tailings and the organic concentration remained constant for unoxidized tailings, independently of the acid-generation potential. The biodegradation efficiency was optimal when the leachate was in contact with a mixture of oxidized and unoxidized tailings due to sulfate-reduction

Mise en scène du réel : l'œuvre vidéographique et cinématographique de Robert Morin

Comme elle traite d'un sujet particulièrement vaste, notre analyse de l'oeuvre de Robert Morin ne cherche pas à être exhaustive, mais tend plutôt à mettre en perspective les différents modèles d'entremêlement de documentaire et de fiction explorés par le cinéaste tout au long de son parcours. Par conséquent, nous avons classifié le contenu de la filmographie de Morin en nous appuyant sur les trois axes relevés par Fabrice Montal dans un texte critique paru en complément de Moments donnés (Robert Morin: entrevue(s)), et avons arrêté notre sélection sur deux films et une vidéo, représentatifs de chacune des catégories: Le voleur vit en enfer, Ma vie c'est pour le restant de mes jours et Le nèg '. Au cours de notre analyse, il s'agira de caractériser la relation de ces documents avec la réalité, en établissant la part de documentaire et de fiction qu'ils comportent, et de déterminer quelles sont les conséquences de cette fusion des genres sur l'acte de spectature ainsi que sur la question de la vérité au cinéma. Nous traiterons, donc, du rapport particulier qu'entretient avec la réalité le cinéma en général, tant sur le plan de l'image que du récit. Ces deux angles nous permettront de présenter les principales théories sur le sujet: la transparence d'André Bazin, l'illusionnisme tel que présenté notamment par Jacques Aumont et le réalisme perceptuel de Gregory Currie, en ce qui concerne l'image; la narratologie explicitée par Christian Metz, André Gaudreault et François Jost, les images-temps et les images-mouvements relevées par Gilles Deleuze, pour ce qui est du récit. Il sera ensuite question des caractéristiques propres aux deux grands genres cinématographiques que sont le documentaire et la fiction, à la lumière des ouvrages de Jean-Marie Schaeffer et de Guy Gauthier. En plus de nous éclairer sur les liens unissant le cinéma avec la réalité, ces théories fourniront les notions nécessaires pour scinder la fiction et le documentaire dans les films et vidéos de Morin, au niveau du dispositif créatif et de l'acte de spectature, de manière à les confronter avec la question de la vérité au cinéma. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Cycle hydrologique, Bassin versant, Modèle climatique, Paramétrages physiques