205 research outputs found
The 2018 Provincial Election in Quebec
The 2018 election in Quebec marked an important turn in the provinceâs political history with the victory of the Coalition Avenir QuĂ©bec (CAQ)âthe first time since 1966 that a party other than the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) or the Parti QuĂ©bĂ©cois (PQ) formed a government. The incumbent QLP suffered from voter fatigue and a backlash against its austerity measures while the PQ had been struggling for several years due to the declining popularity of its sovereignty option, especially among younger generations of voters. The CAQ had been leading in the polls for over a year, although the campaign proved to be more competitive than expected in its second half. The battle for third place was hard fought between the PQ and the insurgent QuĂ©bec Solidaire (QS). The electionâs outcome, and the CAQ governmentâs success, suggest that the new party system configuration that came into place in 2018 may be a lasting one
A GPU-based multi-criteria optimization algorithm for HDR brachytherapy
Currently in HDR brachytherapy planning, a manual fine-tuning of an objective
function is necessary to obtain case-specific valid plans. This study intends
to facilitate this process by proposing a patient-specific inverse planning
algorithm for HDR prostate brachytherapy: GPU-based multi-criteria optimization
(gMCO).
Two GPU-based optimization engines including simulated annealing (gSA) and a
quasi-Newton optimizer (gL-BFGS) were implemented to compute multiple plans in
parallel. After evaluating the equivalence and the computation performance of
these two optimization engines, one preferred optimization engine was selected
for the gMCO algorithm. Five hundred sixty-two previously treated prostate HDR
cases were divided into validation set (100) and test set (462). In the
validation set, the number of Pareto optimal plans to achieve the best plan
quality was determined for the gMCO algorithm. In the test set, gMCO plans were
compared with the physician-approved clinical plans.
Over 462 cases, the number of clinically valid plans was 428 (92.6%) for
clinical plans and 461 (99.8%) for gMCO plans. The number of valid plans with
target V100 coverage greater than 95% was 288 (62.3%) for clinical plans and
414 (89.6%) for gMCO plans. The mean planning time was 9.4 s for the gMCO
algorithm to generate 1000 Pareto optimal plans.
In conclusion, gL-BFGS is able to compute thousands of SA equivalent
treatment plans within a short time frame. Powered by gL-BFGS, an ultra-fast
and robust multi-criteria optimization algorithm was implemented for HDR
prostate brachytherapy. A large-scale comparison against physician approved
clinical plans showed that treatment plan quality could be improved and
planning time could be significantly reduced with the proposed gMCO algorithm.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
Fabrication et caractérisation de circuits intégrés micro-ondes passifs sur arséniure de gallium pour les télécommunications
La demande dans le domaine des tĂ©lĂ©communications repousse sans cesse les limites de la microĂ©lectronique. Les structures actives les plus complexes sur silicium ne pourront plus rivaliser avec leurs Ă©quivalents sur matĂ©riau III-V et autres hĂ©tĂ©rostructures semi-conductrices au niveau des performances recherchĂ©es et du coĂ»t de fabrication. Pour rĂ©aliser des opĂ©rations dans les dizaines de gigahertz, la migration des procĂ©dĂ©s s'impose. Le projet consiste Ă rĂ©aliser des structures passives (lignes de transmissions de diffĂ©rentes gĂ©omĂ©tries, condensateurs et inductances) sur GaAs Ă l'aide de procĂ©dĂ©s compatibles avec d'autres substrats utilisĂ©s en hautes frĂ©quences et de façon concomitante avec la fabrication de structures actives (diodes, mesfet, p-hemt). De plus, plusieurs phĂ©nomĂšnes de transmission micro-onde doivent ĂȘtre pris en compte tel que les pertes dues au substrat, les discontinuitĂ©s coplanaires, l'inductance entre les lignes et les capacitĂ©s parasites. L'utilisation de modĂšles RF valides jusqu'Ă 40 GHz est requise pour des simulations prĂ©cises dans des logiciels tels que ADS au niveau de la conception. Des filtres passe-bande ont Ă©tĂ© conçus et fabriquĂ©s pour valider le fonctionnement des structures modĂ©lisĂ©es avec les paramĂštres de modĂ©lisation extraits de structures de test
De la responsabilité morale des investisseurs institutionnels : le cas du Régime de retraite de l'Université de Montréal
Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal
Le particularisme moral
Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothÚques de l'Université de Montréal
Simulations avancées de l'écoulement turbulent dans les aspirateurs de turbines hydrauliques
Tableau dâhonneur de la FacultĂ© des Ă©tudes supĂ©rieures et postdoctorales, 2010-2011Le prĂ©sent mĂ©moire a comme objectif principal de procĂ©der Ă la simulation d'un aspirateur de turbine existant en utilisant le DES, soit une nouvelle approche de modĂ©lisation de la turbulence. Il est postulĂ© que la meilleure reprĂ©sentation de l'Ă©coulement instationnaire qui existe dans cette partie de la machine pourrait faire la lumiĂšre sur la discordance entre la courbe de rendement applatie mesurĂ©e en centrale et la courbe prĂ©dite par les simulations RANS. Afin de procĂ©der Ă ces simulations avancĂ©es, l'approche DES est d'abord testĂ©e avec un cas d'Ă©coulement tourbillonnant dans un diffuseur conique pour lequel des donnĂ©es expĂ©rimentales sont disponibles. Par la suite, le cas de l'aspirateur rĂ©el est traitĂ© et plusieurs comparaisons entre les approches RANS, URANS et DES sont dĂ©gagĂ©es. Les rĂ©sultats dĂ©montrent l'importance d'Ă©tablir une mĂ©thodologie rigoureuse pour appliquer l'approche DES Ă un Ă©coulement tourbillonnant dans un diffuseur. Principalement, le phĂ©nomĂšne nĂ©faste propre au DES de la sĂ©paration induite par le maillage (GIS) se manifeste trĂšs facilement pour ce type d'Ă©coulement. Il est montrĂ© que les modĂšles qui protĂšgent la couche limite, nommĂ©ment les modĂšles DDES SA et DDES SST, sont beaucoup plus polyvalents et mieux adaptĂ©s Ă ces Ă©coulements. Aussi, l'analyse des conditions d'entrĂ©e a montrĂ©, tant pour le diffuseur que pour l'aspirateur, que le niveau de viscositĂ© tourbillonnaire qui y est prescrit doit ĂȘtre significativement plus faible que celui imposĂ© en RANS. Les rĂ©sultats finaux montrent une claire supĂ©rioritĂ© de l'approche DDES sur l'approche URANS pour prĂ©dire les instationnaritĂ©s prĂ©sentes pour les cas Ă©tudiĂ©s. Plus particuliĂšrement pour l'aspirateur, le DDES permet de faire une analyse du tourbillon de sortie de roue et de ses caractĂ©ristiques associĂ©es Ă la charge. Par rapport Ă la prĂ©diction de la performance, l'utilisation du DDES ne modifie pas la forme de la courbe de rendement. Il semble que la prĂ©diction de la performance de l'aspirateur soit majoritairement gouvernĂ©e par la modĂ©lisation RANS en proche paroi et que le plateau dans la courbe de rendement mesurĂ©e ne soit pas entiĂšrement attribuable Ă un phĂ©nomĂšne instationnaire prenant place au centre de l'aspirateur
Synthesis of a 1-boratabenzene-(2,3,4,5-tetramethylphosphole) : towards a planar monophosphole
Novel boratabenzeneâphosphole complexes have been prepared and structurally characterized. The electronic communication between the two heterocyclic rings linked by a PâB bond and the aromaticity of these systems were probed using crystallographic and density functional studies
Comparison of peak flow velocity through the left ventricular outflow tract and effective orifice area indexed to body surface area in Golden Retriever puppies to predict development of subaortic stenosis in adult dogs.
Objective â To evaluate the usefulness of Doppler-derived peak flow velocity through the
left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT Vmax) and effective orifice area indexed to body surface
area (EOAi) in puppies to predict development of subaortic stenosis (SAS) in the same dogs
as adults.
Design â Prospective, longitudinal, observational study.
Animals â 38 Golden Retrievers.
Procedures â Cardiac auscultation and echocardiography were performed on 2- to 6-monthold
puppies, then repeated at 12 to 18 months. Subaortic stenosis was diagnosed when
LVOT Vmax was = 2.3 m/s in adult dogs with left basilar systolic murmurs.
ResultsâAll puppies with EOAi < 1.46 cm2/m2 had SAS as adults. All adults with EOAi <1.29 cm2/m2
had SAS. An LVOT Vmax > 2.3 m/s in puppyhood was 63% sensitive and 100%
specific for SAS in adulthood. In puppies, LVOT Vmax was more strongly associated with a
future diagnosis of SAS (area under the curve [AUC], 0.89) than was EOAi (AUC, 0.80). In
puppies, the combination of LVOT Vmax and EOAi yielded slightly higher sensitivity (69%)
and specificity (100%) for adult SAS than did LVOT Vmax alone. In unaffected and affected
dogs, LVOT Vmax increased significantly from puppyhood to adulthood but EOAi did not.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance â In Golden Retriever puppies, LVOT Vmax > 2.3 m/s
and EOAi < 1.46 cm2/m2 were both associated with a diagnosis of SAS at adulthood. The
combination of these 2 criteria may result in higher sensitivity for SAS screening. Unlike
LVOT Vmax, EOAi did not change during growth in either unaffected Golden Retrievers or
those with SAS. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2014;245:1367â1374
Long-term cycling behavior of asymmetric activated carbon/MnO2 aqueous electrochemical supercapacitor
Activated carbonâMnO2 hybrid electrochemical supercapacitor cells have been assembled and characterized in K2SO4 aqueous media. A laboratory cell achieved 195,000 cycles with stable performance. The maximal cell voltage was 2V associated with 21±2Fgâ1 of total composite electrode materials (including activated carbon andMnO2, binder and conductive additive) and an equivalent serie resistance (ESR) below1.3cm2.
Long-life cycling was achieved by removing dissolved oxygen from the electrolyte, which limits the corrosion of current collectors. Scaling up has been realized by assembling several electrodes in parallel to build a prismatic cell. A stable capacity of 380 F and a cell voltage of 2V were
maintained over 600 cycles. These encouraging results show the interest of developing such devices, including non-toxic and safer components as compared to the current organic-based devices
Analyse des barriÚres à l'assainissement énergétique des bùtiments dans le canton de Vaud
Les propriĂ©taires immobiliers du canton de Vaud font trĂšs peu appel aux subventions du Programme BĂątiments qui encourage les rĂ©novations Ă©nergĂ©tiques. LâĂ©tude «Analyse des barriĂšres Ă l'assainissement Ă©nergĂ©tique des bĂątiments dans le canton de Vaud» mandatĂ©e par le Canton de Vaud a permis dâidentifier certaines causes et propose des mesures pour remĂ©dier Ă cet Ă©tat de fait. Parmi les facteurs pouvant expliquer le phĂ©nomĂšne, lâĂ©tude a identifiĂ© des facteurs juridiques comme lâapplication du droit bail dans le canton, structurels comme le faible taux de maisons individuelles occupĂ©es en rĂ©sidence principale, Ă©conomiques et financiers comme lâabsence de soutien cantonal aux audits Ă©nergĂ©tiques ou encore certains facteurs socio-culturels
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