PISTIL : Persuasive Interaction for Sus TainabILity

International audienc

Validation de criteres ergonomiques pour l'evaluation d'interfaces utilisateurs

Projet PSYCHO ERGORésumé disponible dans les fichier attaché

Homogeneous light in shade-house experiment overestimates carbon gains in Norway maple seedlings

We set up a shade-house experiment with Norway maple growing at two light intensities typical of a disturbed and undisturbed forest canopy from either a homogeneous or a dynamic regime that mimics sunflecks. We show that although horticultural-grade shade-cloths can be finely tuned to provide daily averages of any light intensity, they do not appropriately mimic natural forest understories which are characterized by dynamic light environments composed of intense but short direct light events interspaced with prolonged period of low diffuse light. The results suggest that replicating the dynamic light environment of forests could be very important in experiments aimed at identifying the traits responsible for invasiveness in exotic species in forest understories, such as Norway maple in North America

Present-day geodynamics in the bend of the western and central Alps as constrained by earthquake analysis

The contrasted tectonics of the western/central Alps is examined using a synthesis of 389 reliable focal mechanisms. The present-day strain regime is mapped and interpolated for the entire Alpine belt based on a newly developed method of regionalization. The most striking feature is a continuous area of extension which closely follows the large-scale topographic crest line of the Alpine arc. Thrusting is observed locally, limited to areas near the border of the Alpine chain. A majority of earthquakes within the Alps and its forelands are in strike-slip mode. Stress inversion methods have been applied to homogenous subsets of focal plane mechanisms in order to map regional variations in stress orientation. The stress state is confirmed to be orogen-perpendicular both for s3 in the inner extensional zones and s1 in the outer transcurrent/transpressional zones. Extensional areas are well correlated with the part of the belt which presents the thickest crust, as shown by the comparison with the Bouguer anomaly and the average topography of the belt. In the northwestern Swiss Alps, extension is also correlated with currently uplifting zones. These observations and our strain/stress analyses support a geodynamic model for the western Alps in which the current activity is mostly a result of gravitational ‘body' forces. Earthquakes do not provide any direct evidence for ongoing convergence in the Alpine system, but a relationship with ongoing activity of complex block rotations of the Apulian microplate cannot be ruled ou

Birch and conifer deadwood favour early establishment and shade tolerance in yellow birch juveniles growing on sugar maple dominated stands

Small-seeded tree species such as yellow birch (YB, Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) require deadwood or mineral soil for their establishment. Although much research has been done comparing YB germination on leaf litter vs. exposed mineral soil, less is known about deadwood as a seedbed and how different seedbeds affect YB early growth along light availability and size gradients. We examine how three common seedbeds (deadwood, moss cover on deadwood, and mineral soil) affected establishment and growth, biomass partitioning, and morphological traits of YB juveniles growing in the understory of temperate mixed deciduous and coniferous forests in southern Quebec. A total of 274 YB were sampled in four sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) dominated northern hardwood stands where selective cuts had been applied 6 and 15 years prior to sampling. Over 75% of the YB found on deadwood were on material of birch and conifer origin, although these species made less than 40% of the basal area. YB juveniles growing on deadwood showed traits that improve survival in shade such as reduced height growth for tall plants, higher efficiency in resource capture, and multilayered crowns. Our results demonstrate the importance of deadwood of birch and conifer origin in maintaining an abundant, natural, spatially well-distributed, and multistoried regeneration of YB.The authors are particularly grateful to I. Pratte, D. Schönig, A. Paquin, N. Bergeron, M. Messier, E. Messier, S. Carpentier, Y. Gauthier, and E. Mauri for their valuable help with the field and lab work. They also thank M. Mazerolle and S. Daigle for their assistance with statistical models. This work was funded by a MVRMF grant from the Ministry of Natural Resources of Quebec (MRNQ). J.-B. Lambert was also awarded with a Fonds de recherche du Québec — Nature et technologies (FRQNT) scholarship

Evaluating a user interface with ergonomic criteria

Projet PSYCHO ERGOThe usefulness of a set of ergonomic criteria for the evaluation of user interfaces was assessed using a mixed two-factors experimental design. Two groups of usability specialists (Control, Criteria) were asked to evaluate the interface of a musical database management system in two phases. In the first phase of the experiment, all the participants relied solely on their expertise; in the second phase they were instructed to evaluate the management system again but this time through the replay of their previous interactions: participants in the Criteria group used a set of ergonomic criteria while the participants in the Control group did not. In the first phase, the two groups did not differ in terms of: (1) the number of usability problems detected, and (2) the proportions of usability problems uncovered as well as the proportion of usability problems found in common, with respect to the size of the aggregates. In the second phase however, the participants in the Criteria group had better performances than those in the Control group: they uncovered more new problems, and the proportion of problems uncovered as well as the proportion of problems found in common was greater as a function of the number of evaluators in the aggregates. To sum up, the criteria increased the evaluation performance of the experts

Evolution du contrôle parlementaire des forces armées en Europe

Depuis plusieurs années, la question du contrôle parlementaire des forces armées est devenue en Europe un enjeu important du débat public et politique. L’attention s’est notamment portée sur le contrôle des opérations extérieures et du renseignement, qui ont donné lieu à plusieurs initiatives parlementaires depuis la fin des années 1990 : rapports, projets de loi, missions d’information. Mais ce contrôle est désormais soumis à d’importantes mutations. Certaines ont trait à l’évolution des forces armées et de leurs missions, notamment l’internationalisation des usages de la force armée dans le cadre d’alliance ou d’opérations en coalition. D’autres sont liées à l’évolution plus fondamentale du Parlementarisme en Europe, généralement centrée sur la thématique du déclin des assemblées législatives face à la montée en puissance des exécutifs. Ces dynamiques affectent négativement les capacités de contrôle du Parlement sur les armées et la politique de défense alors même qu’elles en renforcent la nécessité. À partir d’une vaste étude à la fois quantitative (questions au gouvernement) et qualitative (entretiens au sein des commissions parlementaires) menée au Royaume-Uni, en Allamagne, en Espagne, en Suède et en France, Bastien Irondelle, Olivier Rozenberg, Catherine Hoeffler, Jean Joana, Olivier Chopin et Christian Olsson montrent comment les Parlements cherchent à renforcer leurs fonctions de contrôle du gouvernement et de l’exécutif dans une Europe en pleine mutation face à l’usage de la force

Evolution du contrôle parlementaire des forces armées en Europe:Rapport d’étude pour le C2SD

L’Institut de recherche stratégique de l’École militaire a pour mission de produire et de valoriser la recherche sur les questions de défense. Il favorise une analyse pluridisciplinaire, croisant les regards des chercheurs universitaires et des militaires, des observateurs et des acteurs des grandes questions stratégiques. En collaboration avec les principales composantes du ministère (État-major des armées, Enseignement militaire supérieur, Délégation aux affaires stratégiques, Secrétariat général pour l’Administration, Direction générale de l’Armement), et en lien avec le tissu français et international de la réflexion stratégique, l’Institut renouvelle les perspectives conceptuelles, encourage une nouvelle génération de chercheurs sur ces domaines, participe à l’enseignement militaire, et fait rayonner la pensée stratégique française par des partenariats internationaux. (Premier paragraphe

Ergonomic criteria for the evaluation of human-computer interfaces

This technical report presents first a brief summary of the research conducted towards the design of ergonomic criteria for the evaluation of human computer interfaces (HCI), and then, the full description of the most recent set of criteria (version 2.1) both in english and french. The summary outlines the context in which the criteria were developed, the goal of the criteria approach, the experiments conducted, and the results obtained. The set of ergonomic criteria that resulted from this work consists of a list of 18 elementary criteria (including 9 main criteria). The criteria are presented along with their definitions, rationales, examples of guidelines, and comments setting out the distinctions between some of them