Does Truth Promote Peace? Toward a Greater Understanding of Truth Commissions as Transitional Justice Mechanisms in Post-Conflict Countries

This study explores the societal effects of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict countries. In particular, an emphasis is placed on exploring whether truth commissions, which are suggested in virtually all post-conflict situations today, exhibit a positive or negative effect on key indicators, such as democracy, human rights, economic development, and the durability of peace. Three central research questions are examined. First, do truth and reconciliation commissions “work”? In other words, are they associated with a reduction in communal violence and improvements in democratic institutions, human rights protections, and economic development? Second, must truth commissions be coupled with transitional justice mechanisms that are retributive in nature in order to exhibit a positive societal effect? For example, if policymakers couple a truth commission with a human rights criminal tribunal, will this increase its efficiency and societal effect? Third, and finally, are top-down approaches to transitional justice, such as truth commissions, becoming increasingly obsolete in the 21st century in comparison to more localized, traditional dispute resolution mechanisms? A mixed-method approach is used to explore these three central research puzzles. The quantitative section of this study uses a dataset on more than 1,100 transitional justice mechanisms between 1970 and 2010 to examine the first two research questions. The qualitative aspect of this study uses Rwanda’s gacaca courts as a case study to explore the effectiveness of bottom-up versus top-down approaches to transitional justice. These community-based courts were the face of Rwanda’s ambitious transitional justice project and charged with investigating all crimes committed during the genocide. To assess their effect, survey and interview data are used to draw connections and an overall picture of public perceptions toward gacaca and other forms of transitional justice in post-genocide Rwanda. This study finds evidence to suggest that truth commissions are unlikely to produce positive societal outcomes if used in isolation from other transitional justice mechanisms. Further, this study finds some, albeit limited, evidence to suggest that truth commissions, when paired with reparations, do appear to be associated with positive societal effects in the forms of increased levels of democratization, reduced levels of communal violence, and increased levels of wealth in post-conflict countries. The Rwandan case study, moreover, indicates that top-down approaches will likely fail to accomplish their goals if they do not provide tangible results at the local-level. The key theme in the survey and interview data is that gacaca, while imperfect, was a country-specific solution to a country-specific problem using a country-specific transitional justice mechanism. More importantly, this case study suggests that we must continue to rethink how transitional justice is being implemented in situations marked by past periods of violence and instability at the local level. A mixture of bottom-up and top-down approaches appear to be better situated to meet the specific needs and desires of various stakeholders that are influential in shaping peace, justice, and reconciliation

Localisation pédestre : Synthèse bibliographique et illustration d'une approche par vision monoculaire embarquée

National audienceLocate our position is one of the tasks we naturally do with our view and our memory. However, ensuring this task in an artificial way is still a challenge for the whole community of computer vision. This paper presents a detailed literature review of pedestrian localization systems and their technologies. In the context of the visually impaired pedestrian navigation assistance, we also present an innovative solution based on the vision localization for both outdoor and indoor navigation. This new solution is established based on the independence of any collective equipment.Se localiser est une des tâches que nous faisons naturellement grâce à notre vue et notre mémoire. Cependant, l'assurer artificiellement demeure un défi pour toute la communauté de la vision par ordinateur. Cette communication présente une revue de la littérature détaillée des systèmes de localisation pédestre et de ses technologies. Dans le contexte de l'assistance à la navigation pédestre des déficients visuels, nous proposons aussi une solution innovante, pour un fonctionnement efficace aussi bien en extérieur qu'en intérieur, fondée sur l'indépendance vis-à-vis de l'équipement collectif

Simulations of observations with the Optical Monitor of the X-ray Multi-Mirror Satellite

peer reviewedThis paper addresses the question of the observations to be performed with the Optical Monitor (OM) of the X-ray Multi-Mirror Satellite (XMM) under several aspects. First, we discuss XMM-OM's photometric system and its colour transformations towards the standard U BV system. Second, we establish a set of procedures to determine the temperature and the amount of interstellar absorption affecting the observed stars. Last, we address the possibility of isolating quasars in multidimensional colour diagrams based on the XMM-OM filter set

Comment calibrer extrinsèquement des caméras à champs non-recouvrants ? Application pour un robot mobile

National audienceMulti-camera systems are more and more used in visionbased robotics. An accurate extrinsic calibration (camera relative poses) is usually required. In most of cases, this task is done by matching features through different views of the same scene. However, if the camera fields of view do not overlap, such a matching procedure is not feasible anymore. This article deals with a simple and flexible extrinsic calibration method, for non-overlapping camera rig. The aim is the calibration of non-overlapping cameras embedded on a vehicle, for visual navigation purpose in urban environment. The cameras do not see the same area at the same time. The calibration procedure consists in manoeuvring the vehicle while each camera observes a static scene. Previously, the camera were intrinsically calibrated. The main contributions are a study of the singular motions and a specific bundle adjustment which both reconstructs the scene and calibrates the cameras. Solutions to handle the singular configurations, such as planar motions, are exposed. The proposed approach has been validated with synthetic and real data. This article is translated from [19].Les systèmes multi-caméras sont de plus en plus utilisés en robotique mobile. Il est souvent nécessaire que l'étalonnage extrinsèque (poses relatives des caméras) soit précis. Pour cela, on utilise généralement des appariements entre différentes vues, ce qui est impossible à réaliser si les champs de vue des caméras sont disjoints. Dans cet article, nous exposons une méthode simple et flexible pour étalonner extrinsèquement un système multicaméras dont les champs de vue sont disjoints. Le but est de calibrer des caméras embarquées sur un véhicule pour des applications de navigation en milieu urbain. Les caméras observent donc des régions différentes à un instant donné. La procédure d'étalonnage consiste à manoeuvrer le véhicule pendant que chaque caméra, intrinsèquement calibrée au préalable, observe une scène statique. Les principales contributions sont l'étude des mouvements singuliers, et un ajustement de faisceaux spécifique qui affine les scènes, les poses du système multi-caméras, et calibre extrinsèquement les caméras. Nous étudions comment traiter les mouvements singuliers, comme les mouvements plans. La méthode proposée est validée avec des données synthétiques et réelles. Traduction depuis l'anglais de l'article [19]

Vers la géolocalisation par vision d'une caméra mobile : exploitation d'un modèle 3D de ville et application au recalage visuel temps réel

National audienceNous proposons un algorithme qui corrige a posteriori les dérives des méthodes de SLAM. Celui-ci exploite la connaissance a priori d'un modèle 3D simple de l'environnement. Notre méthode se déroule en deux étapes successives. Tout d'abord, un alignement grossier de la reconstruction SLAM avec le modèle 3D est calculé. Pour cela, nous proposons un algorithme d'ICP non-rigide exploitant un modèle de transformations articulées original et adapté au problème. l'alignement obtenu est ensuite raffiné à l'aide d'un ajustement de faisceaux. Pour cela, nous proposons une nouvelle fonction de coût permettant d'intégrer à la fois la cohérence entre les observations 2D et les points 3D reconstruits et la cohérence géométrique avec le modèle 3D de l'environnement. La méthode complète est validée sur des séquences de synthèse et réelles de grande échelle. Enfin, nous montrons que les reconstructions obtenues sont suffisamment précises pour être directement utilisées dans des applications de localisation globale

Report on the First Detection of Pectenotoxin-2, Spirolide-A and Their Derivatives in French Shellfish

In the context of the French Phytoplankton and Phycotoxins Monitoring Network (REPHY) programme, shellfish samples were harvested from different locations where harmful algae blooms were known to have occurred. For all shellfish samples found positive by the mouse bioassay for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) was used to search for the following lipophilic toxins: okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxins (DTXs), pectenotoxins (PTXs), azaspiracids (AZAs), yessotoxins (YTXs), spirolides (SPXs) and gymnodimines (GYMs). In order to investigate the presence of acyl-OAs and/or acyl-DTX-1,-2 (DTX-3), alkaline hydrolysis was performed on all samples, and LC/MS analyses were carried out on the samples before and after hydrolysis. The results revealed different lipophilic toxin profiles as a function of the shellfish sampling location. The primary finding was that all of the samples contained OA and acyl-OA. In addition, other lipophilic toxins were found in shellfish samples: DTX-2, acyl-DTX-2 and SPXs (SPX-A, SPX-desMeC) on the Atlantic coast (Southern Brittany, Arcachon), and pectenotoxins (PTX-2, PTX-2-seco-acid and 7-epi-PTX-2-seco-acid) on the Mediterranean coast (Thau lagoon, the island of Corsica). This paper reports on the first detection of PTX-2, SPX-A and their derivatives in French shellfish

Grasshopper control in gardens and landscapes

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