Le potentiel de décolonisation de l’art autochtone contemporain : la reproduction culturelle créative de Jordan Abel, Rebecca Belmore et Skawennati

Abstract: This thesis, “The Decolonizing Potential of Contemporary Aboriginal Art: Jordan Abel’s, Rebecca Belmore’s, and Skawennati’s Creative Cultural Re-productions,” investigates the power of contemporary Aboriginal art, to lead to the process of resurgence and sovereignty by looking at visual productions created by Jordan Abel, Rebecca Belmore, and Skawennati Tricia Fragnito. My research underlines Aboriginal artists’ abilities to transmit traditional cultural knowledge, as well as their creative resistance to ongoing settler colonialism within Turtle Island. Against colonial attempts to represent Indigenous peoples as a “vanished race,” I demonstrate that my selected artists’ political interventions against biased colonial history contribute to emphasizing Aboriginal “survivance” and indigenizing Western socio-cultural discourses and colonial representations in Aboriginal contexts. Within a comparative and interdisciplinary framework, Abel’s, Belmore’s, and Skawennati’s creative works act as cultural and social critiques that incorporate new narratives into ongoing Western-colonial paradigms. The artists I study highlight the relationships between literature, art, and new media technologies within the context of resurgence and decolonization. Abel’s erasure poetry, as it is derived from Western anthropological works, acts as a valuable medium to both unsettle colonial stereotypical images and ironically underline the presence of Aboriginal peoples and cultures. Belmore’s performance, centered on race, marginalization, and social injustice, function as political strategies for reconstructing Aboriginal self-determined identities and bringing about social change. And Skawennati’s new media artworks act as an effective medium for challenging dominant colonial ideologies and envisioning a sovereign future for Aboriginal communities. I conclude by discussing the role of agency of my selected artists in the reconstruction of Canadian cultural memory. I illustrate how the combination of traditional storytelling and contemporary platforms offers a unique opportunity for Abel, Belmore, and Skawennati to bring about change in the political, cultural, and archival memory of Canada and create new narratives in Canadian collective and cultural memory.Ce mémoire, intitulé : «Le potentiel de Décolonisation de l’art autochtone contemporain: la reproduction culturelle créative de Jordan Abel, Rebecca Belmore et Skawennati», se penche sur le pouvoir de l’art autochtone contemporain dans le processus de résurgence et de souveraineté des Premières Nations en examinant les productions visuelles créées par Jordan Abel, Rebecca Belmore et Skawennati Tricia Fragnito. Ma recherche met en évidence la capacité des artistes autochtones à transmettre des connaissances culturelles traditionnelles, ainsi que leur résistance créative au colonialisme actuel à Turtle Island. Contre les tentatives coloniales de représenter les peuples autochtones comme une «race en voie de disparition», je démontre que les interventions politiques de mes artistes sélectionnés dans l’histoire coloniale contribuent à mettre l’accent sur la «survivance» des autochtones et à indigéniser l’histoire et les représentations sociales et culturelles occidentales dans les contextes autochtones. Dans un cadre comparatif et interdisciplinaire, j’affirme que les œuvres créatives d’Abel, de Belmore et de Skawennati agissent comme des critiques culturelles et sociales qui incorporent de nouveaux récits dans les paradigmes coloniaux actuels. Mes artistes choisis soulignent les relations entre la littérature, l’art et les nouvelles technologies médiatiques dans un contexte de résurgence et de décolonisation. La poésie d’effacement d’Abel, comme elle est tirée d’ouvrages anthropologiques occidentaux, fonctionne comme un moyen précieux pour à la fois perturber les images stéréotypées coloniales et souligner ironiquement la présence des peuples et des cultures autochtones. Les performances de Belmore, centrées sur la race, la marginalisation et les injustices sociales, agissent comme des stratégies politiques pour reconstruire les identités autodéterminées des autochtones et entraîner un changement social. Et les productions artistiques des nouveaux médias de Skawennati opèrent comme un moyen efficace de défier les idéologies dominantes coloniales et d’envisager un avenir souverain pour les communautés autochtones. Je termine en discutant du rôle d’agentivité de mes artistes sélectionnés dans la reconstruction de la mémoire culturelle canadienne. J’illustre comment la combinaison des narrations traditionnelles et des plateformes contemporaines offre une occasion unique à Abel, Belmore et Skawennati de provoquer un changement dans la mémoire politique, officielle et archivistique du Canada et de créer de nouveaux récits dans la mémoire collective et culturelle canadienne

Electrochemical Process for Diazinon Removal from Aqueous Media: Design of Experiments, Optimization, and DLLME-GC-FID Method for Diazinon Determination

In the present study, electrochemical process was studied via removal of diazinon (O,O-diethyl O-2-isopropyl-6-methylpyrimidin-4-yl phosphorothioate) as an insecticide/ acaricide organic case study. Influences of three operational parameters including initial ferrous ion concentration, initial hydrogen peroxide concentration, and initial diazinon concentration were measured and optimized in diazinon removal process. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to design the experiments. The experimental data collected in a laboratory-scaled batch reactor equipped with four graphite bar electrodes as cathode and an aluminum sheet electrode as an anode. Quantitative analysis of diazinon was done with gas chromatography equipped with flame photometric detector. Disperse liquid–liquid microextraction was used prior to gas chromatography in order to extraction and preconcentration of diazinon from aqueous media to extraction phase. Acetone and chlorobenzene were used as disperser and extraction solvent, respectively. Maximum diazinon removal efficiency of 87% (0.85mg mass removal) in C0 of 2mg/L and 80% (120mg mass removal) in C0 of 300mg/L was achieved under different experimental conditions. The obtained experimental data were used for model building by RSM approach. Finally, optimization process was carried out using RSM algorithm. © 2015, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

Synthesis of iron nanoparticles and evaluation of their operation in phenol and 2-chlorophenol removal from aqueous solution

Background and Aims: Phenol and chlorophenol are among the serious pollutants in industrial effluents. These pollutants in drinking water have a medicinal taste and are quite pronounced and objectionable. The aim of this research was investigation the feasibility potential of nano particle zero valent iron for phenol and chlorophenol removal from aqueous solutions.Materials and Methods: nZVI was synthesized by reduction of ferric chloride by sodium borohydrid. Finally, the chemical and physical characterization of sorbents carried out with SEM analysis. The Batch experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of pH, chlorophenol and phenol concentration, sorbent dosage, contact time and temperature. Then for experiments the central composite design (CCD) was applied to appraisal the effect of these variables.Results: Results showed that the adequate initial concentration for phenol removal, pH, contact time, and dosage of nZVI were at 5 mg/L, 2, 54.75 min, and 1.40 g, respectively. Also results showed that the adequate initial concentration for chlorophenol removal, pH, contact time, and dosage of nZVI were at 5 mg/L, 4, 70 min and, 1.33g, respectively.Conclusion: According to the results of this study and high resistance in degradation by biological processes, iron nano particles can be used for phenol removal and its compound. Also, the results of the CCD showed that the fundamental parameters resulted from pH and phenol concentration having an intense effect on the efficiency.Key words: nano particle, effluent, phenol, chloropheno

Effect of drying process on antioxidant properties of date palm fruits

Aim. In order to identify antioxidant activities and phenolic compound, two varieties of date palm (Mazfati and Kalute varieties) (Phoenix dactylifera) fruits (DPF) from Iran systematically evaluated. Methods. Antioxidant activity determined using typical methods such as DPPH, reducing power and total antioxidant method. The total phenolic content of the dates was measured using Folin-Ciocalteau method. The included samples were gathered at three stages of khalaal, rutab, tamr and dried date from Sam and Jiroft date. The total phenolic content ranged from 1074, 856.4 and 723.8 in Mozafati variety and 921.5, 723.5 and 785.3 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE/100-g-dw sample) in Kalute variety for khalal, rutab and tamr stage, respectively. Results. In both varieties antioxidant activities and total phenolic content decreased by ripening stages. Result of drying process showed that total phenolic content and antioxidant activities varied from temperature and decreased by increase of drying temperature. Conclusion. This research demonstrates Iranian dates could be potential rich resources of natural antioxidants, and could be developed into functional foods or drug for the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by oxidative stress

Degradation of phenol with using of Fenton-like Processes from water

Phenol is one of the serious pollutants from the chemical and petrochemical industries. This pollutant due to its convoluted structure is resistant to biodegradation. One of the methods that are useful to remove this pollutant is advanced oxidation (AOP). A laboratory scale study was done on a synthetic wastewater containing phenol. All experiments were done in batch conditions and effect of variables pH, amount of hydrogen peroxide, iron dosage, contact time and an initial concentration on the phenol removal were tested. The remaining phenol concentration was evaluated using the DR-5000 device. In order to effect of these parameters, the experiment was performance at pH 2 to 6, 5 to 45 ml/ml of peroxide, and time of 5 to 60 minutes with 2 to 15 g/ml iron (Fe˚). The optimum pH, the ratio of hydrogen, Fe˚and time were 3, 15 ml, 8g and 5 minutes respectively. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) index was chosen as the parameter for evaluation in this study. Result showed that mineralization of phenol was not complete. The COD removal efficiency was obtained 71%. According to the results of this study, Fenton-like process can be used for conversion organic resistant compounds to other compounds with lower toxicity

Deep Learning for Motion Recognition

Automatic analysis and interpretation of human motion from visual data has been one of the most significant computer vision challenges since 1970. In recent years, deep learning has fueled the rapid advancement of computer vision topics. In particular, human motion analysis has drawn substantial attention due to its practical importance in many applications in a variety of domain including social behavior studies, medical assistance, robotics, sport analytics, and more. Human motion is one of the key parts of human social behavior and a rich source of information. We move our whole body involving head, shoulders, hands, trunk, legs, and limbs combined with facial expressions flavored with our individualized style to transmit social signals. A number of studies have suggested the existence of unique motion signatures of individuals by analyzing data obtained from KinectTM devices, and Electromyography (EMG) electrodes attached to muscles. Meaning that when we move and communicate, we tend to use our characteristic style of motion. These distinct motion patterns are attributed to behavioral and anatomical di↵erences between individuals as well as their di↵erent muscle activation strategies. This research aims at establishing a fully-automated framework to push the envelope of understanding information hidden in human motions from visual inputs and its potential applications on a set of fundamental tasks including classification, identification, and user authentication. For this purpose, we propose a number of deep learning approaches and try to tackle the problem from a data-driven perspective and figure out to what extend we would be able to model human motion signatures and see if it is possible to authenticate or identify people based on their movement pattern. Our results demonstrate an accuracy of 94.04% for human authentication and 92.62% for human identification among 10 subjects confirming that human motion conveys information regarding their identity and can be considered as practical biometric cues. Considering particular applications and their limitations, we further propose a generative biometric model that efficiently learns task-relevant features in data and integrate them into a probabilistic authentication setting based on limited amount of data. The proposed framework is able to authenticate the correct subject 86.11% of times

Analyzing and Validating the Competences of the Teachers Profession based on the Model

One of the issues that has been addressed in recent years is the existence of a mechanism for determining and assessing the professional qualifications of teachers who have paid more attention to this in developed countries and have been able to make and develop their own educational system models. To make in our country, this has also been highlighted in recent years, and its underlying work has been somewhat done. In this regard, this research has been conducted with the aim of analyzing and validating the model of professional competencies based on the Huntly model. The statistical population is all teachers working in Isfahan province. Using Cochran's formula, 345 people were selected as a statistical sample and selected randomly. The data gathering tool was a Delphi method and a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was content validity and reviewed by five experts and professors. The reliability of the questionnaire was also evaluated using Cronbach's alpha test. The results show that the alpha coefficient is more than 0.7, so the questionnaire has an appropriate reliability. Data analysis was performed using Smart PLS and SPSS20 software. The results show that professional knowledge, professional practice, and professional commitment are highly valued as a component of the professional competences of teachers in Isfahan province

Study on the Rapid Drawdown and Its Effect on Portal Subsidence of Heybat Sultan Twin Tunnels in Kurdistan-Iraq

The excavation of tunnels below the water table causes variations in the hydraulic level, pore pressure and effective stresses. In this regard, rapid drawdown is considered as a destructive phenomenon as to the change in the flow regime which has mostly been studied for the reservoirs of embankment dams. The rapid drawdown occurred at the upstream shell of the dam gives rise to increase in the pore pressure at the upstream shell. This is as a result of the incompliance between the water loss inside the shell and the reservoir water level. Hence, it would be more likely to have instability and sliding at the upstream slope on account of decrease in the effective stress. Lack of sufficient studies performed on this matter in tunnelling projects on the one hand and the knowledge on the most important parameter for decreasing the destructive effects of this phenomenon on the other hand necessitates performing further studies on this matter. To this end, the reasons for the occurrence as well as the affecting parameters were studied by modelling the large subsidence of the inlet portal of Heybat Sultan twin tunnels located in Kurdistan-Iraq making use of the variations of the groundwater boundary conditions under Phase2 code. The modelling results depict the importance of the drawdown rate and the permeability coefficient of the surrounding rock mass. In the interim, the rapid loss in the hydraulic gradient caused by the drainage of a considerable volume of precipitations into the tunnels led to the rapid decrease in the pore pressure and increase in the effective stresses up to total stress. This has resulted in the consolidation settlement in the tunnel portal

Control of polarization and mode mapping of small volume high Q micropillars

We show that the polarization of the emission of a single quantum dot embedded within a microcavity pillar of elliptical cross section can be completely controlled and even switched between two orthogonal linear polarizations by changing the coupling of the dot emission with the polarized photonic modes. We also measure the spatial profle of the emission of a series of pillars with different ellipticities and show that the results can be well described by simple theoretical modeling of the modes of an infinite length elliptical cylinder