Les implications morales de certaines dispositions législatives concernant l'avortement

Abortion in Canada is mainly settled by S. 251 of the Canadian Criminal Code. The section states that abortion is a criminal act except when a therapeutic abortion committee for an approved hospital is of the opinion that the continuation of the pregnancy is or is likely to endanger the woman's life or health. As it now stands, the section is subject to considerable interpretation. Morals is one of the most fundamental aspects of abortion. Our legislation on the matter should reflect much aspect, first by "discriminatizing" abortion and, secondly, by recourse to social measures insuring the mother a real choice after proper consideration in ethics

Four-dimensional symplectic cobordisms containing three-handles

We construct four-dimensional symplectic cobordisms between contact three-manifolds generalizing an example of Eliashberg. One key feature is that any handlebody decomposition of one of these cobordisms must involve three-handles. The other key feature is that these cobordisms contain chains of symplectically embedded two-spheres of square zero. This, together with standard gauge theory, is used to show that any contact three-manifold of non-zero torsion (in the sense of Giroux) cannot be strongly symplectically fillable. John Etnyre pointed out to the author that the same argument together with compactness results for pseudo-holomorphic curves implies that any contact three-manifold of non-zero torsion satisfies the Weinstein conjecture. We also get examples of weakly symplectically fillable contact three-manifolds which are (strongly) symplectically cobordant to overtwisted contact three-manifolds, shedding new light on the structure of the set of contact three-manifolds equipped with the strong symplectic cobordism partial order.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology on 28 October 200

The Metallicity of Intergalactic Gas in Cosmic Voids

We have used the Hubble/STIS and FUSE archives of ultraviolet spectra of bright AGN to identify intergalactic Lya absorbers in nearby (z < 0.1) voids. From a parent sample of 651 Lya absorbers, we identified 61 void absorbers located more than 1.4/h_70 Mpc from the nearest L* or brighter galaxy. Searching for metal absorption in high-quality (S/N > 10) spectra at the location of three diagnostic metal lines (O VI 1032, C IV 1548, Si III 1206), we detected no metal lines in any individual absorber, or in any group of absorbers using pixel co-addition techniques. The best limits on metal-line absorption in voids were set using four strong Lya absorbers with N(H I) > 10^{14} cm^-2, with 3-sigma equivalent-width limits ranging from 8 mA (O VI), 7-15 mA (C IV), and 4-10 mA (Si III). Photoionization modeling yields metallicity limits Z < 10^{-1.8+/-0.4} Z_sun, from non-detections of C IV and O VI, some 6 times lower than those seen in Lya and OVI absorbers at z < 0.1. Although the void Lya absorbers could be pristine material, considerably deeper spectra are required to rule out a universal metallicity floor produced by bursts of early star formation, with no subsequent star formation in the voids. The most consistent conclusion derived from these low-z results, and similar searches at z = 3-5, is that galaxy filaments have increased their mean IGM metallicity by factors of 30-100 since z = 3.Comment: Accepted for ApJ, 8 pages including Fig 1a,

Efectos de las condiciones primaverales en la propensión reproductora de las hembras de ánsar nival

Breeding propensity, defined as the probability that a sexually mature adult will breed in a given year, is an important determinant of annual productivity. It is also one of the least known demographic parameters in vertebrates. We studied the relationship between breeding propensity and conditions on spring staging areas (a spring conservation hunt) and the breeding grounds (spring snow cover) in Greater Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens atlantica), a long distance migrant that breeds in the High Arctic. We combined information from mark–recapture, telemetry, and nest survey data to estimate breeding propensity over a 7–year period. True temporal variation in breeding propensity was considerable (mean: 0.574 [95% CI considering only process variation: 0.13 to 1.0]). Spring snow cover was negatively related to breeding propensity (snow = –2.05 ± 0.96 SE) and tended to be reduced in years with a spring hunt ( = –0.78 ± 0.35). Nest densities on the breeding colony and fall ratios of young:adults were good indices of annual variation in breeding propensity, with nest densities being slightly more precise. These results suggest that conditions encountered during the pre–breeding period can have a significant impact on productivity of Arctic–nesting birds.La propensión reproductora, definida como la probabilidad de que un adulto sexualmente maduro se reproduzca en un determinado año, constituye un importante determinante de la productividad anual. También es uno de los parámetros demográficos menos conocidos de los vertebrados. Estudiamos la relación entre la propensión reproductora y las condiciones reproductoras en áreas de acumulación primaveral de nutrientes (cacería primaveral orientada a la conservación) y emplazamientos de reproducción (capa de nieve durante la primavera) en el ánsar nival (Chen caerulescens atlántica), un ave migratoria que recorre grandes distancias y que se reproduce en el Alto Ártico. Combinamos la información de marcaje–recaptura, telemetría y datos de supervivencia en el nido para estimar la propensión reproductora durante un período de siete años. La variación temporal verdadera en la propensión reproductora fue significativa [media: 0,574 (95% CI, considerando únicamente la variación en los procesos: de 0,13 a 1,0)]. La capa de nieve primaveral se relacionó negativamente con la propensión reproductora (snow = – 2,05 ± 0,96 EE), tendiendo a reducirse en los años en que se había producido una cacería primaveral ( = –0,78 ± 0,35). Las densidades de los nidos de la colonia reproductora y la tasa de jóvenes:adultos en otoño constituyeron buenos índices de la variación anual en la propensión reproductora, siendo las densidades de los nidos ligeramente más precisas. Tales resultados sugieren que las condiciones presentes durante el período previo a la reproducción pueden tener un impacto significativo en la productividad de las aves que nidifican en el Ártico

Sex and the Cinema: What American Pie Teaches the Young

This paper focuses upon the wildly successful blockbuster American Pie teenpics, especially American Pie 3 – the Wedding. I argue that these films, which are sited so securely within the visual and pedagogical machinery of Hollywood culture, are specifically designed to appeal to teenage male audiences, and to provide lessons in sex and romance. Movies like this are especially important as they are experienced by far more teenagers than, for example, instructional films or other classroom materials; indeed, as Henry Giroux has observed, "teens and youth learn how to define themselves outside of the traditional sites of instruction, such as the home and the school… Learning in the postmodern age is located elsewhere – in popular spheres that shape their identities, through forms of knowledge and desires that appear absent from what is taught in schools" (Giroux, 1997, p.49). In this paper I discuss whether the American Pie series is actually a "new age" effort which, via insubordinate performances of gender, contests the hegemonic field of signification which regulates the production of sex, gender and desire, or whether it is more accurately described as a retrogressive hetero-conservative opus with a veneer of sexual radicalism. In short, I intend to probe whether this filmic vector for sex education is all about the shaping of responsible, caring, vulnerable men, or is it guiding them to become just like their heterosexual, middle-class fathers? And whether, despite its riotous and raunchy advertising, American Pie really dishes up something spicy or something terribly wholesome instead

Recrutement et consentement à la recherche : réalités et défis éthiques

Contribution au Colloque « Consentez-vous (toujours) à participer à ma recherche? » : processus d'obtention et de renouvellement du consentement auprès de personnes vulnérables, présenté dans le cadre du 83e Congrès de l'Acfas, à Université du Québec à Rimouski, le 28 mai 2015.Celui qui accepte de contribuer à un projet de recherche est fréquemment appelé participant. À partir d’une comparaison entre les mots participant et sujet, voyons lequel désigne le plus adéquatement la personne qui contribue à un projet de recherche. Examinons aussi lequel de ces termes est le plus susceptible d’inspirer au chercheur le respect à l’égard de la personne qui contribue à son projet de recherche. L’enfance et l’inaptitude sont deux conditions inexorables de vulnérabilité. Il faut y ajouter le désespoir, qui compromet l’aptitude à décider de façon libre et éclairée. Le phénomène de la méprise thérapeutique résulte d’une incompréhension de la différence entre la finalité de la recherche et la finalité de la clinique. Le chercheur soucieux de recruter des sujets qui se représentent adéquatement son projet de recherche, et qui y consentent véritablement devrait adopter deux attitudes à leur égard : l’objectivité et la bienveillance.Abstract: The one who agrees to contribute to a research project is frequently called participant. From a comparison between the words participant and subject, let us see which one designates most adequately the person who contributes to a research project. Also let us examine which of these words is the most susceptible of inspiring in the researcher respect towards the person who contributes to his research project. Childhood and inaptitude are two inexorable conditions of vulnerability. It is necessary to add despair, which compromises the capacity to decide in a free and enlightened way. The phenomenon of therapeutic misconception results from the incomprehension of the difference between the purpose of research and the purpose of clinical treatment. The researcher worried of recruiting subjects who understand his research project adequately, and which really agree to it should adopt two attitudes towards them: objectivity and benevolence

Antonio Gramsci’s impact on critical pedagogy

This paper provides an account of Antonio Gramsci’s impact on the area of critical pedagogy. It indicates the Gramscian influence on the thinking of major exponents of the field. It foregrounds Gramsci's ideas and then indicates how they have been taken up by a selection of critical pedagogy exponents who were chosen on the strength of their identification and engagement with Gramsci's ideas, some of them even having written entire essays on Gramsci. The essay concludes with a discussion concerning an aspect of Gramsci's concerns, the question of powerful knowledge, which, in the present author's view, provides a formidable challenge to critical pedagogues.peer-reviewe