Challenges for Democracies in Responding to Terrorism: A View from Canada and Israel

The November 2015 terrorist attacks at the Bataclan concert hall and sidewalk cafés in Paris, the March 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport, and the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. in June 2016 are just a few examples of the horror and loss of life inflicted on innocent civilians by individuals affiliated with, or supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Canada is not immune: in October 2014 two ISIS-inspired attacks, one in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. and one in Ottawa, resulted in the deaths of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. More recently, ISIS vowed to make the month of Ramadan a bloodbath in Europe and America.2 Heightened awareness, attention, and concern among western democracies surround the issue of terrorism on home soil. And there are serious challenges in addressing such threats

L’implication des tierces parties durant les crises internationales en Amérique latine de 1947 à 1994

De longue date, la soi-disant zone d'influence créée par les États-Unisd'Amérique en Occident est prise pour acquis ; on croit que l'hégémonie des États-Unis n'y rencontre aucune barrière. Conséquemment, des organisations internationales telles les Nations Unies (ONU) et des organisations régionales telle l'Organisation des États américains (OÉA) ne devraient posséder aucun véritable pouvoir dans la médiation de conflits dans cette sphère d'influence états-unienne. Cependant, dans cette étude, nous avons observé que, durant la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle, les crises internationales d'Amérique latine avaient pour caractéristique une plus grande incidence d'activités d'organisations globales qu'on aurait pu croire quoique les interventions onusiennes ne furent pas aussi efficaces à apaiser les conflits que les interventions de I'OÉA et des États-Unis. Comment pouvons-nous expliquer cette activité importante d'organisations globales à la lumière de cette supposée hégémonie des États-Unis sur le territoire et quels facteurs peuvent affecter l'efficacité de sa médiation en Amérique latine ? Quelles leçons pouvons-nous tirer de ces découvertes qui pourraient être appliquées à d'autres aires de conflit à moyen ou long terme ? Les résultats de cette étude pourraient servir de leçon pour d'autres organisations régionales et appuient l'idée d'une « division des tâches » entre l'ONU et les organisations de sécurité régionales pour la gestion des conflits.It is traditionally assumed that the United States of America long ago established a zone of influence in the Western hemisphere where its hegemony goes unchallenged. Thus, global organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and regional organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) should be ineffective bodies in mediating conflicts in this US sphere of influence. In this study, however, we find that Latin American international crises since 1947 have been characterized by a greater incidence of global organization activity than one would expect although UN intervention was not as important in abating conflict levels as the OAS and the USA. How can one explain this important global organization activity in light of the alleged us hegemony over the area, and whatfactors affect the effectiveness of its mediation in Latin America ? What lessons can be learned from these findings that can be applied to other conflict areas and for the future ? These findings may serve as a lesson for other regional organizations

Charif ou l'antipathie du bonheur : suivie de Cyrano, Candide et Charif : discussion sur le bonheur

Dans un village, désert gris, un enfant porteur d'une longue tradition ne peut aspirer au bonheur. Comme on disait chez lui, « lorsque l'on naît d'un lion on devient un lion », lui était né de rats et, selon les lois, devait demeurer de jour adossé à son mur et de nuit, chercher de quoi manger. Jusqu'au jour où l'Étrangère arrive au village. Étrange voyageuse, elle voit au-delà de la condition de l'enfant et découvre une étincelle au fond de lui. Quelques mois passent et tous les jours, elle s'assoit au côté de l'enfant stoïque et lui parle de sa vie, des mathématiques, de la survie en forêt, de tout. Cependant, un matin, personne ne vient s'asseoir aux côtés de l'enfant. Il se questionne sans succès et finit par poser le regard sur l'objet le plus précieux que l'Étrangère possède, sur une table devant lui, et prend la première décision de son existence : il retournerait l'objet à l'Étrangère. À travers ces lignes, je me questionne sur le bonheur humain, pourquoi certains l'atteignent, pourquoi échappe-t-il aux autres et à quel point sommes-nous responsables de ce résultat. Dans la section essai, je discute « bonheur » avec Rostand et Voltaire par le biais de nos trois œuvres, Cyrano de Bergerac, Candide et Charif ou l'antipathie du bonheur. Je compare le destin de ces personnages surdimensionnés et m'interroge sur l'implication de chacun quant à l'atteinte de leur but ou leur échec, à savoir s'ils parviennent ou non à atteindre le bonheur.In a village, lost in a grey desert, a young boy following in a long tradition could not aspire for happiness. As we say in his country, "when born from a lion, a lion you become". He descended from rats and hence, according to the law, he would remain against the wall by day and scavenge for scraps by night. That is, until the Traveller arrived in the village. The mysterious wanderer could see beyond his condition and soon she uncovered a spark in him. Months went by and day after day she would sit next to the stoic boy and tell him about her life, about mathematics, forest survival, anything and everything. One morning, however, nobody came. The boy remained puzzled until he noticed the Traveller's most cherished possession lying on a table in front of him. At that point, he took the first decision of his life, namely returning it to the Traveller. In these pages, I explore the matter of human happiness, why some find it, why others do not and to what extent do we play a role in the result. In the essay, I discuss the subject of happiness with Rostand and Voltaire based on our work, more specifically Cyrano de Bergerac, Candide and Charif ou l'antipathie du bonheur. Therein I compare the destiny of bigger-than-life characters and wonder about their involvement in reaching their goal or not, that is, finding happiness

Avian mortalities due to transmission line collisions: a review of current estimates and field methods with an emphasis on applications to the Canadian electric network

Birds are vulnerable to collisions with human-made fixed structures. Despite ongoing development and increases in infrastructure, we have few estimates of the magnitude of collision mortality. We reviewed the existing literature on avian mortality associated with transmission lines and derived an initial estimate for Canada. Estimating mortality from collisions with power lines is challenging due to the lack of studies, especially from sites within Canada, and due to uncertainty about the magnitude of detection biases. Detection of bird collisions with transmission lines varies due to habitat type, species size, and scavenging rates. In addition, birds can be crippled by the impact and subsequently die, although crippling rates are poorly known and rarely incorporated into estimates. We used existing data to derive a range of estimates of avian mortality associated with collisions with transmission lines in Canada by incorporating detection, scavenging, and crippling biases. There are 231,966 km of transmission lines across Canada, mostly in the boreal forest. Mortality estimates ranged from 1 million to 229.5 million birds per year, depending on the bias corrections applied. We consider our most realistic estimate, taking into account variation in risk across Canada, to range from 2.5 million to 25.6 million birds killed per year. Data from multiple studies across Canada and the northern U.S. indicate that the most vulnerable bird groups are (1) waterfowl, (2) grebes, (3) shorebirds, and (4) cranes, which is consistent with other studies. Populations of several groups that are vulnerable to collisions are increasing across Canada (e.g., waterfowl, raptors), which suggests that collision mortality, at current levels, is not limiting population growth. However, there may be impacts on other declining species, such as shorebirds and some species at risk, including Alberta's Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) and western Canada's endangered Whooping Cranes (Grus americana). Collisions may be more common during migration, which underscores the need to understand impacts across the annual cycle. We emphasize that these estimates are preliminary, especially considering the absence of Canadian studies

Conception d'un système de surveillance du rythme respiratoire comportant la fusion d'informations venant de capteurs hétérogènes

Le rythme respiratoire est un signe vital qui permet le diagnostic de plusieurs maladies respiratoires. Cependant, la surveillance du rythme respiratoire à l'extérieur du milieu hospitalier pose un défi qui a présentement peu de solutions. La plupart des capteurs existants ont des problèmes qui causent un non-fonctionnement dans certains environnements ; il n'existe pas de capteurs qui donnent l'information de manière quasi-parfaite en tout temps. Le mémoire présente une solution incluant plusieurs capteurs pour répondre à ce problème. La solution proposée permet de fusionner les informations en provenance de plusieurs capteurs hétérogènes afin d'obtenir l'information complète sur le rythme respiratoire, même dans des conditions ou un capteur individuel ne peut fournir cette information. Cette solution proposée utilise deux capteurs disponibles couramment sur le marché, soit un microphone MEMS et des accéléromètres. La solution comprend aussi une mesure de bioimpédance par un système qui pourrait être adapté pour être portable. Le mémoire présente ces capteurs et la procédure pour transmettre les signaux de ceux-ci vers un ordinateur. Le mémoire traite toutes les étapes de traitement de signal nécessaires pour tirer les informations du signal de respiration donné par ces capteurs. Le traitement de signal permet de réduire plusieurs types de bruits ainsi que de trouver des informations spécifiques au type de signal étudié. Le système cherche à reconnaître chacune des phases du cycle respiratoire pour chaque capteur individuel. Il utilise les informations sur les états possibles fournis par chaque capteur pour les fusionner ensuite avec un système de poids. Dans un environnement contrôlé, le système avec les données fusionnées permet d'avoir un taux d'erreur pouvant atteindre 0,88% pour un segment de 30 secondes, par rapport à des systèmes avec des capteurs uniques qui donnent des taux d'erreur variant entre 4,42% et 17,70% pour ces mêmes 30 secondes

Determination of Angptl4 mRNA as a Diagnostic Marker of Primary and Metastatic Clear Cell Renal-Cell Carcinoma

International audienceBACKGROUND: We have previously shown that angiopoietin-like 4 (angptl4) mRNA, a hypoxia-inducible gene, is highly expressed in clear cell renal-cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common subtype of RCC for which no specific marker is available. We here investigated whether angptl4 mRNA 1) could be a useful diagnostic and/or prognostic marker of ccRCC in a large and comprehensive retrospective series, 2) induction is dependent on the VHL status of tumors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using in situ hybridization, we report that angptl4 mRNA is expressed in 100% of both sporadic (n = 102) and inherited (n = 6) primary ccRCCs, without any statistical association with nuclear grade (p = 0.39), tumor size (p = 0.09), stage grouping (p = 0.17), progression-free survival (p = 0.94), and overall survival (p = 0.80). Angptl4 mRNA was also expressed in 26 (87%) of 30 secondary ccRCCs but neither in any other secondary RCCs (n = 7). In contrast, angptl4 mRNA was neither expressed in 94% non-ccRCC renal tumors (papillary RCCs (n = 46), chromophobe RCCs (n = 28), and oncocytomas (n = 9)), nor in non-renal clear cell carcinomas (n = 39). Angptl4 expression was also examined in tumors associated (n = 23) or not associated (n = 66) with VHL disease. 40 (98%) hemangioblastomas expressed angptl4 whereas all pheochromocytomas (n = 23) and pancreatic tumors (n = 25) were angptl4-negative, whatever their VHL status. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Angptl4 mRNA expression was highly associated with ccRCC (p = 1.5 10(-49), Chi square test) allowing to define its expression as a diagnosis marker for primary ccRCC. Moreover, angptl4 mRNA allows to discriminate the renal origin of metastases of clear-cell carcinomas arising from various organs. Finally, inactivation of VHL gene is neither necessary nor sufficient for angptl4 mRNA induction

A cognitive prosthesis for complex decision-making

While simple heuristics can be ecologically rational and effective in naturalistic decision making contexts, complex situations require analytical decision making strategies, hypothesis-testing and learning. Sub-optimal decision strategies – using simplified as opposed to analytic decision rules – have been reported in domains such as healthcare, military operational planning, and government policy making. We investigate the potential of a computational toolkit called “IMAGE” to improve decision-making by developing structural knowledge and increasing understanding of complex situations. IMAGE is tested within the context of a complex military convoy management task through (a) interactive simulations, and (b) visualization and knowledge representation capabilities. We assess the usefulness of two versions of IMAGE (desktop and immersive) compared to a baseline. Results suggest that the prosthesis helped analysts in making better decisions, but failed to increase their structural knowledge about the situation once the cognitive prosthesis is removed