L'histoire du droit et les archives judiciaires

Le présent article cherche à stimuler les recherches en histoire du droit qui s'alimentent dans les archives judiciaires. L'auteure se penche brièvement sur diverses explications de la rareté du recours aux archives judiciaires dans le passé, en examinant les approches des chercheurs susceptibles d'utiliser ces sources. Ensuite, elle brosse un tableau de la nature et de la structure des archives judiciaires, soulignant les caractéristiques et les limites des séries principales produites par les tribunaux. Suit une description de la situation actuelle des archives judiciaires au Québec qui fait état notamment des recommandations du Comité interministériel sur les archives judiciaires et des conséquences de leur mise en oeuvre. Enfin, l'auteure termine en suggérant quelques pistes de recherche et en affirmant le besoin d'asseoir solidement l'histoire du droit sur une compréhension de l'administration de la justice, telle qu'elle est révélée par la production documentaire des tribunaux.This article attempts to stimulate research in legal history based on court records. It considers various reasons for the relatively limited use of court records in the field in the past, by examining briefly the methodological approaches of the principal types of researchers potentially interested in using court records. The author then provides an overvue of the nature and structure of court records, emphasizing the main characteristics and limits of the most important series of documents produced by the courts. There follows a description of the current situation with regards to court records in Quebec, particularly drawing attention to the recommendations of the Interministerial Committee on Court Records and the impact of their implementation. Finally, the article concludes with some suggestions for future research, and asserts the need to ground Quebec's legal history firmly in an understanding of the evolution of the administration of justice, as revealed by the documentary output of the province's courts

Property and Marriage : The Law and the Practice in Early Nineteenth-Century Montreal

Between the 1820s and 1840s, the use of marriage contracts in Montreal changed. Firstly, over this period, marriage contracts were increasingly the tool of a propertied minority of the population. Secondly, a rapidly growing proportion of those signing a contract chose to keep the property of each spouse separate rather than creating a community of property. This choice was not limited to anglophones and was most pronounced when the husband was a merchant or "bourgeois". Thirdly, more and more of the wives of wealthier Montrealers appear to have had the power to administer their own personal goods. How this worked out in practice, however, has to be determined. Entre les années 1820 et 1840, trois transformations ont marqué l’utilisation des contrats de mariage à Montréal. D’abord, la signature d’un contrat devint progressivement le lot d’une minorité de possédants. Ensuite, une proportion toujours plus large choisit la séparation plutôt que la communauté de biens, surtout chez les couples dont le mari était un marchand ou un bourgeois, et cela, non seulement parmi les anglophones. Enfin, il semble que dans les familles très aisées, un nombre grandissant de femmes aient assumé la gestion de leurs biens quoiqu’on ne sache pas grand-chose sur l’exercice de ce droit

Quedas acidentais em mulheres de meia-idade

OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência de quedas acidentais em mulheres e identificar possíveis associações de variáveis sociodemográficas, clínicas e de hábitos de vida com as quedas, em 2007 e 2014. MÉTODOS: Foram realizados dois estudos transversais, em 2007 e 2014, dentro do Projeto de Saúde de Pindamonhangaba (PROSAPIN), com mulheres com idades variando de 35 a 75 anos. As amostras probabilísticas foram selecionadas dentre as mulheres residentes no município e participantes da Estratégia Saúde da Família. A coleta de dados incluiu: entrevista face a face, exame antropométrico e exame sanguíneo. A variável de desfecho “Sofreu queda nos últimos seis meses?” foi levantada durante a entrevista. Foram estimadas as prevalências de quedas em 2007 e 2014 por ponto e intervalo de confiança de 95% (IC95%). Modelos de regressão logística múltipla foram construídos para identificar a associação das variáveis independentes e a ocorrência de quedas para cada ano a partir da odds ratio (OR). Utilizou-se o software Stata 14.0 para análise estatística. RESULTADOS: A s p revalências d e q uedas a cidentais f oram: 17,6% ( IC95% 14,9–20,5) e m 2007 e 17,2% (IC95% 14,8–19,8) em 2014. Em 2007 os fatores associados a quedas foram: idade de 50–64 anos (OR = 1,81; IC95% 1,17–2,80), ensino médio (OR = 1,76; IC95% 1,06–2,93), hiperuricemia (OR = 3,74; IC95% 2,17–6,44), depressão (OR = 2,07; IC95% 1,31–3,27), sono ruim (OR = 1,78; IC95% 1,12–2,82) e sonolência diurna (OR = 1,86; IC95% 1,16–2,99). Em 2014 permaneceram: idade de 50–64 anos (OR = 1,64; IC95% 1,04–2,58), hiperuricemia (OR = 1,91; IC95% 1,07–3,43) e depressão (OR = 1,56; IC95% 1,02–2,38), acrescidos da síndrome metabólica (OR = 1,60; IC95% 1,03–2,47) e da dor musculoesquelética (OR = 1,81; IC95% 1,03–3,18). CONCLUSÕES: As quedas ocorrem de maneira importante em mulheres a partir dos 50 anos, indicando que não são restritas a idosos e que há necessidade de iniciar medidas preventivas mais precocemente. Os dois estudos mostraram magnitudes semelhantes de ocorrência de quedas acidentais e reforçaram sua multifatorialidade. Além disso, a hiperuricemia pode ser um potencial novo fator associado a quedas.OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of accidental falls in women and to identify possible associations of sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle variables with falls, in 2007 and 2014. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were performed, in 2007 and 2014, within the Projeto de Saúde de Pindamonhangaba (PROSAPIN – Pindamonhangaba Health Project), with women aged between 35 to 75 years. Probabilistic samples were selected among women living in the municipality and participating in the Health Family Strategy. Data collection included: face-to-face interview, anthropometric examination and blood test. The outcome variable “have you fallen in the last six months?” was raised during the interview. The prevalence of falls in 2007 and 2014 were estimated by score with a 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Multiple logistic regression models were constructed to identify the association of independent variables with the occurrence of falls for each year based on the odds ratio (OR). We used the Stata 14.0 software for statistical analysis. RESULTS: T he p revalence o f a ccidental f alls w ere: 17.6% (95%CI 14.9–20.5) i n 2 007 a nd 17.2% (95%CI 14.8–19.8) in 2014. In 2007, factors associated with falls were: aged 50–64 years (OR = 1.81; 95%CI 1.17–2.80), high school (OR = 1.76; 95%CI 1.06–2.93), hyperuricemia (OR = 3.74; 95%CI 2.17–6.44), depression (OR = 2.07; 95%CI 1.31–3.27), poor sleep (OR = 1.78; 95%CI 1.12–2.82) and daytime sleepiness (OR = 1.86; 95%CI 1.16–2.99). In 2014, they were: aged 50–64 years (OR = 1.64; 95%CI 1.04–2.58), hyperuricemia (OR = 1.91; 95%CI 1.07–3.43) and depression (OR = 1.56; 95%CI 1.02–2.38), plus metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.60; 95%CI 1.03–2.47) and musculoskeletal pain (OR = 1.81; 95%CI 1.03–3.18). CONCLUSIONS: Falls occur significantly in women aged 50 years or over, indicating that they are not restricted to older adults and that there is a need to initiate preventive measures earlier. Both studies showed similar magnitudes of occurrence of accidental falls and reinforced their multifactorial nature. In addition, hyperuricemia may be a potential new factor associated with falls

The Resource Leveling Problem with multiple resources using an adaptive genetic algorithm

Resource management ensures that a project is completed on time and at cost, and that its quality is as previously defined; nevertheless, resources are scarce and their use in the activities of the project leads to conflicts in the schedule. Resource Leveling Problems consider how to make the resource consumption as efficient as possible. This paper presents a new Adaptive Genetic Algorithm for the Resource Leveling Problem with multiple resources, and its novelty lies in using the Weibull distribution to establish an estimation of the global optimum as a termination condition. The extension of the project deadline with a penalty is allowed, avoiding the increase in the project criticality punishing the shift of activities. The algorithmis tested with the standard Project Scheduling Problem Library PSPLIB, and a complete analysis and benchmarking test instances are presented. The proposed algorithm is implemented using VBA for Excel 2010 in order to provide a flexible and powerful decision support system that enables practitioners to choose between different feasible solutions to a problem, and in addition it is easily adjustable to the constraints and particular needs of each project in realistic environments.This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (research project BIA2011-23602).Ponz Tienda, JL.; Yepes Piqueras, V.; Pellicer Armiñana, E.; Moreno Flores, J. (2013). The Resource Leveling Problem with multiple resources using an adaptive genetic algorithm. Automation in Construction. 29(1):161-172. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2012.10.003S16117229

On simulated annealing phase transitions in phylogeny reconstruction

Phylogeny reconstruction with global criteria is NP-complete or NP-hard, hence in general requires a heuristic search. We investigate the powerful, physically inspired, general-purpose heuristic simulated annealing, applied to phylogeny reconstruction. Simulated annealing mimics the physical process of annealing, where a liquid is gently cooled to form a crystal. During the search, periods of elevated specific heat occur, analogous to physical phase transitions. These simulated annealing phase transitions play a crucial role in the outcome of the search. Nevertheless, they have received comparably little attention, for phylogeny or other optimisation problems. We analyse simulated annealing phase transitions during searches for the optimal phylogenetic tree for 34 real-world multiple alignments. In the same way in which melting temperatures differ between materials, we observe distinct specific heat profiles for each input file. We propose this reflects differences in the search landscape and can serve as a measure for problem difficulty and for suitability of the algorithm’s parameters. We discuss application in algorithmic optimisation and as a diagnostic to assess parameterisation before computationally costly, large phylogeny reconstructions are launched. Whilst the focus here lies on phylogeny reconstruction under maximum parsimony, it is plausible that our results are more widely applicable to optimisation procedures in science and industry