La municipalité comme autorité responsable : une approche institutionnelle et fonctionnelle de l'immunité.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de trois ordres. Premièrement, elle vise à examiner la responsabilité municipale à travers le prisme d’une analyse institutionnelle afin de démontrer que les municipalités ne possèdent aucune protection constitutionnelle en vertu de la séparation des pouvoirs et qu’elles peuvent uniquement bénéficier d’une immunité liée à leurs fonctions législatives déléguées, ce qui implique l’exclusion de toute immunité institutionnelle. Deuxièmement, cette thèse vise à analyser l’évolution jurisprudentielle de l’immunité afin de démontrer que la notion de politique publique (policy) qui fonde l’immunité n’a pas de contenu substantiel inhérent et qu’il faut ainsi privilégier une définition formelle reposant sur un processus décisionnel. Troisièmement, cette thèse proposera une nouvelle conception de l’immunité, soit celle "d’immunité proportionnelle variable". Ainsi, contrairement à l’immunité traditionnelle dont l’application est uniforme, cette nouvelle conception permettrait de lever partiellement l’immunité à l’égard de certaines personnes vulnérables et de la faire varier proportionnellement en fonction des effets préjudiciables que pourrait avoir une décision politique sur les droits de ces personnes vulnérables.This thesis has three objectives. The first one is to examine the liability of municipalities trough an institutional analysis in order to demonstrate that municipalities have no constitutional protection under the separation of powers but rather only enjoy an immunity related to their delegated legislative functions, which implies that they do not have any institutional immunity. The second objective of this thesis is to analyze the evolution of the case law regarding immunity in order to demonstrate that the notion of policy, which is the basis for immunity, has no inherent substantive content. Therefore, we believe that a formal definition of immunity based on a decisional process should be favored. Finally, this thesis will suggest a new concept of immunity that we call "variable proportional immunity". Thus, unlike traditional immunity, which is applied uniformly, pursuant to this new concept, immunity could be partially waived in favour of certain vulnerable people proportionally to the injurious impact that could result from a policy decision on these vulnerable people’s rights

Active Microwave Circuit With Negative Group Delay

"©2007 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE."International audienceIn this letter, we report on the design, simulation and implementation of an active negative group delay circuit that operates at 1 GHz with a group delay and a gain, respectively, around -2 ns and 2 dB. Analytical formulas are proposed to demonstrate that the adopted topology is able to simultaneously achieve negative group delay (NGD) and gain while fulfilling active device constraints. The theoretical and simulated results are both validated by frequency measurements of a two-stage active microwave circuit

Optomechanical design of TMT NFIRAOS Subsystems at INO

The adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is the Narrow-Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). Recently, INO has been involved in the optomechanical design of several subsystems of NFIRAOS, including the Instrument Selection Mirror (ISM), the NFIRAOS Beamsplitters (NBS), and the NFIRAOS Source Simulator system (NSS) comprising the Focal Plane Mask (FPM), the Laser Guide Star (LGS) sources, and the Natural Guide Star (NGS) sources. This paper presents an overview of these subsystems and the optomechanical design approaches used to meet the optical performance requirements under environmental constraints

Giving ecological meaning to satellite-derived fire severity metrics across North American forests

Satellite-derived spectral indices such as the relativized burn ratio (RBR) allow fire severity maps to be produced in a relatively straightforward manner across multiple fires and broad spatial extents. These indices often have strong relationships with field-based measurements of fire severity, thereby justifying their widespread use in management and science. However, satellite-derived spectral indices have been criticized because their non-standardized units render them difficult to interpret relative to on-the-ground fire effects. In this study, we built a Random Forest model describing a field-based measure of fire severity, the composite burn index (CBI), as a function of multiple spectral indices, a variable representing spatial variability in climate, and latitude. CBI data primarily representing forested vegetation from 263 fires (8075 plots) across the United States and Canada were used to build the model. Overall, the model performed well, with a cross-validated R2 of 0.72, though there was spatial variability in model performance. The model we produced allows for the direct mapping of CBI, which is more interpretable compared to spectral indices. Moreover, because the model and all spectral explanatory variables were produced in Google Earth Engine, predicting and mapping of CBI can realistically be undertaken on hundreds to thousands of fires. We provide all necessary code to execute the model and produce maps of CBI in Earth Engine. This study and its products will be extremely useful to managers and scientists in North America who wish to map fire effects over large landscapes or regions

Optomechanical design of TMT NFIRAOS Subsystems at INO

The adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is the Narrow-Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). Recently, INO has been involved in the optomechanical design of several subsystems of NFIRAOS, including the Instrument Selection Mirror (ISM), the NFIRAOS Beamsplitters (NBS), and the NFIRAOS Source Simulator system (NSS) comprising the Focal Plane Mask (FPM), the Laser Guide Star (LGS) sources, and the Natural Guide Star (NGS) sources. This paper presents an overview of these subsystems and the optomechanical design approaches used to meet the optical performance requirements under environmental constraints

Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest

Intensifying wildfire activity and climate change can drive rapid forest compositional shifts. In boreal North America, black spruce shapes forest flammability and depends on fire for regeneration. This relationship has helped black spruce maintain its dominance through much of the Holocene. However, with climate change and more frequent and severe fires, shifts away from black spruce dominance to broadleaf or pine species are emerging, with implications for ecosystem functions including carbon sequestration, water and energy fluxes, and wildlife habitat. Here, we predict that such reductions in black spruce after fire may already be widespread given current trends in climate and fire. To test this, we synthesize data from 1,538 field sites across boreal North America to evaluate compositional changes in tree species following 58 recent fires (1989 to 2014). While black spruce was resilient following most fires (62%), loss of resilience was common, and spruce regeneration failed completely in 18% of 1,140 black spruce sites. In contrast, postfire regeneration never failed in forests dominated by jack pine, which also possesses an aerial seed bank, or broad-leaved trees. More complete combustion of the soil organic layer, which often occurs in better-drained landscape positions and in dryer duff, promoted compositional changes throughout boreal North America. Forests in western North America, however, were more vulnerable to change due to greater long-term climate moisture deficits. While we find considerable remaining resilience in black spruce forests, predicted increases in climate moisture deficits and fire activity will erode this resilience, pushing the system toward a tipping point that has not been crossed in several thousand years

L’évolution de la primauté du droit comme principe constitutionnel et sa relation avec le pouvoir exécutif en matière de renseignements confidentiels

Dans cet article, l’auteur étudie l’évolution historique de la primauté du droit afin de prouver que ce principe est un fondement du droit constitutionnel canadien. Par la suite, l’auteur analyse ce principe constitutionnel à la lumière des privilèges conférés au pouvoir exécutif dans le cadre de la doctrine du privilège de la Couronne et de l’article 39 de la Loi sur la Preuve au Canada.The purpose of this article is to demonstrate, through a brief historical study, that the rule of law is a fundamental constitutional principle in Canada. More specifically, the author analyses the application of this constitutional principle to the executive branch by means of the legal framework provided by Crown privilege and section 39 of the Canada Evidence Act

Le marché mondial des produits de l'aluminium : perspectives et contraintes de développement : actes du symposium de sciences sociales

Pour les individus, les organisations, les entreprises, les syndicats, et souvent les États, les ajustements à cette réalité, se sont opérés de façon parfois brutale comme nous en avons été témoins au moment de la crise de 1982. Nous constatons que des problèmes au caractère aigu sont venus déplacer des préoccupations que l'on pensait bien établies depuis vingt ans. La condition féminine, le rôle des jeunes, le chômage, l'insécurité globale, autant de soucis et de tracas pour la conscience collective. Rappelons que l'idée du rôle moteur de l'État dans le développement faisait une large unanimité de 1960 à 1980, au Québec et ailleurs. C'était un modèle de régulation pour employer la terminologie actuelle. Dans ce cadre commun, les groupes sociaux faisaient alliance et les différences politiques avaient trait, chez nous, au degré de contrôle désirable sur cet appareil par la nation et sur les avenues de développement. Dans les régions, on s'accordait sur la nécessité d'une solidarité des agents sociaux, pour la définition des stratégies de développement. Mentionnons, par exemple, l'expérience de l'Est du Québec et plus récemment, la thématique de la concertation, au sommet régional. Notre insertion dans un système planétaire rendra-t-elle impossible une recherche ouverte et démocratique de notre avenir? Assisterons-nous, impuissants, à l'érosion irréversible de la souveraineté collective, dans le cadre des États nationaux? Au règne de la force, pourra-t-on opposer une nouvelle force régulatrice capable de faire face aux problèmes de cette époque? Si certains analystes de la scène contemporaine ont remarqué l'émergence d'une force régulatrice au plan global, d'autres témoignent plutôt de la fragilité de l'hégémonie à cet échelon