Les Tribunaux de santé mentale : déjudiciarisation et jurisprudence thérapeutique

Au Québec comme ailleurs en Amérique, la désinstitutionalisation, le manque de ressources et de services communautaires de santé mentale de même que les changements législatifs ont contribué à une augmentation des probabilités que des personnes atteintes de troubles de santé mentale aient des démêlés avec la justice. Les Tribunaux de santé mentale constituent une forme de déjudiciarisation, basée sur des principes de jurisprudence thérapeutique, qui prend forme au coeur des activités de la Cour. Cet article présente une synthèse critique de la littérature scientifique sur le sujet. Les auteurs exposent d’abord le contexte psycho-légal dans lequel ont émergé les Tribunaux de santé mentale puis décrivent le fonctionnement et les objectifs de ces entités judiciaires. L’article décrit ensuite le Plan d’Accompagnement Justice et Santé Mentale (PAJ-SM), le premier projet pilote de tribunal de santé mentale à Montréal, et le premier en son genre au Québec. On examine ensuite les études d’efficacité de ces institutions et les enjeux des programmes de déjudiciarisation. Les défis et les limites inhérents aux tribunaux spécialisés et la recherche qui les concerne sont discutés, ainsi que certaines alternatives tant au niveau de l’intervention que des méthodes de recherche. Les auteurs concluent que si les Tribunaux de santé mentale offrent des pistes prometteuses, ils ne constituent pas une panacée aux problèmes complexes situés à l’interface de la santé mentale et de la justice. Ces initiatives ne devraient pas occulter les autres mesures de déjudiciarisation en amont, ni la question centrale de l’accès aux services de santé mentale et de leur adéquation aux besoins des diverses clientèles.In Québec, as elsewhere in North America, psychiatric deinstitutionalization, lack of community mental health resources as well as legislative changes to civil and criminal codes have led to an increased probability that individuals with a mental illness come into contact with the criminal justice system. Based on the principle of therapeutic jurisprudence, mental health courts constitute emerging diversion programs, taking place within the court, implemented to offer an alternative to incarceration for individuals with a mental illness. This article offers a critical synthesis of the scientific literature on the topic. The authors first present the context in which mental health courts were developed ; describe their objectives and functioning ; and introduce the Montreal Mental Health Court pilot project, renamed PAJ-SM (Plan d’Accompagnement Justice et Santé) the first of its kind in Québec. The paper examines the research on mental health courts and tackles some of the stakes of diversion programs. The challenges and limits inherent to specialized courts are discussed as well as methodological obstacles related to the study of these complex intervention programs. The authors conclude that mental health courts offer promising intervention venues, but that they do not constitute a panacea to resolving all issues related to the contact of mentally ill individuals with the justice system. Mental health courts must be accompanied by other intervention strategies for persons with mental health problems at all stages of the criminal justice process.En Quebec, como en otras partes de América, la desinstitucionalización, la falta de recursos y de servicios comunitarios de salud mental así como los cambios legislativos han contribuido al aumento en las probabilidades de que las personas con trastornos mentales tengan altercados con la justicia. Basados en los principios de jurisprudencia terapéutica, los tribunales de salud mental constituyen un tipo de programa de desjudicialización emergente puesto en marcha con el propósito de ofrecer alternativas al encarcelamiento de estas personas. Este artículo presenta una síntesis crítica de la literatura científica sobre el tema. Los autores exponen primero el contexto psicolegal en el que han surgido estas entidades judiciales, describen su funcionamiento y sus objetivos y esbozan el cuadro del proyecto piloto del Tribunal de Salud Mental de Montreal, el primero en su género en Quebec. El artículo examina los estudios de eficacia de estas instituciones y aborda las cuestiones de los programas de desjudicialización. Se discuten los retos y los límites inherentes a los tribunales especializados y las investigaciones que les conciernen, así como ciertas alternativas tanto a nivel de la intervención como de los métodos de investigación. Los autores concluyen que si bien los Tribunales de salud mental ofrecen pistas prometedoras, no constituyen la panacea de los problemas complejos situados en la interfaz de la salud mental y la justicia; deben estar acompañados de otras medidas paralelas al proceso judicial para responder a las necesidades de las personas con problemas de salud mental.No Quebec, como em outras regiões na América, a desinstitucionalização, a falta de recursos e de serviços comunitários de saúde mental, além das mudanças legislativas contribuíram para um aumento das probabilidades que as pessoas que sofrem transtornos mentais tenham problemas com a justiça. Baseado em princípios de jurisprudência terapêutica, os tribunais de saúde mental constituem um tipo de programa de desjudiciarização emergente criado com o objetivo de oferecer alternativas ao encarceramento destas pessoas. Este artigo apresenta uma síntese crítica da literatura científica sobre o assunto. Os autores expõem primeiramente o contexto psico-jurídico no qual surgiram estas entidades judiciárias, descrevem seu funcionamento e seus objetivos e mostram um quadro do projeto-piloto do Tribunal da Saúde Mental de Montreal, primeiro no gênero no Quebec. O artigo examina os estudos de eficácia destas instituições e tratam dos desafios dos programas de desjudiciarização. Os desafios e os limites inerentes aos tribunais especializados e a pesquisa que os interessa são discutidos, assim como algumas alternativas tanto ao nível da intervenção quanto aos métodos de pesquisa. Os autores concluem que se os tribunais de saúde mental oferecem pistas promissoras, eles não constituem uma panacéia aos problemas complexos situados na interface da saúde mental e da justiça; eles devem ser acompanhados por outras medidas paralelamente ao processo judiciário para responder às necessidades das pessoas que sofrem problemas de saúde mental

GGR 2017 Review : Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF)

Résumé général de tous les articles : This GGR biennial critical review covers developments and innovations in key analytical methods published since January 2014, relevant to the chemical, isotopic and crystallographic characterisation of geological and environmental materials. In nine selected analytical fields, publications considered to be of wide significance are summarised, background information is provided and their importance evaluated. In addition to instrumental technologies, this review also presents a summary of new developments in the preparation and characterisation of rock, microanalytical and isotopic reference materials, including a précis of recent changes and revisions to ISO guidelines for reference material characterisation and reporting. Selected reports are provided of isotope ratio determinations by both solution nebulisation MC-ICP-MS and laser ablation-ICP-MS, as well as of radioactive isotope geochronology by LA-ICP-MS. Most of the analytical techniques elaborated continue to provide new applications for geochemical analysis; however, it is noted that instrumental neutron activation analysis has become less popular in recent years, mostly due to the reduced availability of nuclear reactors to act as a neutron source. Many of the newer applications reported here provide analysis at increasingly finer resolution. Examples include atom probe tomography, a very sensitive method providing atomic scale information, nanoscale SIMS, for isotopic imaging of geological and biological samples, and micro-XRF, which has a spatial resolution many orders of magnitude smaller than conventional XRF

Revisiting the Replication Experiment

The Replication Experiment (RE) was introduced and applied to different sampling contexts in an earlier column. Here we want to show its features and usefulness in the context of evaluating a possible new sampling + analytical approach for raw material characterisation in a demanding industrial context: “Representative sampling and use of handheld X-ray fluorescence (HHXRF) to characterise lot and sample quality of quartzite in a pyro-metallurgical ferrosilicon plant”. The issue has a very sharp focus: Is the HHXRF approach applied to field samples able to quantify very troublesome, minute amounts of pollutant trace compounds in quartzite for the ferrosilicon process with the necessary accuracy and precision? We here focus on the application of the RE only in the context of the full evaluation, a much broader study

Model of Low-pass Filtering of Local Field Potentials in Brain Tissue

Local field potentials (LFPs) are routinely measured experimentally in brain tissue, and exhibit strong low-pass frequency filtering properties, with high frequencies (such as action potentials) being visible only at very short distances ($\approx$10~$\mu m$) from the recording electrode. Understanding this filtering is crucial to relate LFP signals with neuronal activity, but not much is known about the exact mechanisms underlying this low-pass filtering. In this paper, we investigate a possible biophysical mechanism for the low-pass filtering properties of LFPs. We investigate the propagation of electric fields and its frequency dependence close to the current source, i.e. at length scales in the order of average interneuronal distance. We take into account the presence of a high density of cellular membranes around current sources, such as glial cells. By considering them as passive cells, we show that under the influence of the electric source field, they respond by polarisation, i.e., creation of an induced field. Because of the finite velocity of ionic charge movement, this polarization will not be instantaneous. Consequently, the induced electric field will be frequency-dependent, and much reduced for high frequencies. Our model establishes that with respect to frequency attenuation properties, this situation is analogous to an equivalent RC-circuit, or better a system of coupled RC-circuits. We present a number of numerical simulations of induced electric field for biologically realistic values of parameters, and show this frequency filtering effect as well as the attenuation of extracellular potentials with distance. We suggest that induced electric fields in passive cells surrounding neurons is the physical origin of frequency filtering properties of LFPs.Comment: 10 figs, revised tex file and revised fig

Mineral grains recognition using computer vision and machine learning

Identifying and counting individual mineral grainsc composing sand is an important component of many studies in environment, engineering, mineral exploration, ore processing and the foundation of geometallurgy. Typically, silt (32–128 μm) and sand (128–1000 μm) sized grains will be characterized under an optical microscope or a scanning electron microscope. In both cases, it is a tedious and costly process. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce an original computational approach in order to automate mineral grains recognition from numerical images obtained with a simple optical microscope. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that the current computer vision based on machine learning algorithms is tested for the automated recognition of such mineral grains. In more details, this work uses the simple linear iterative clustering segmentation to generate superpixels and many of them allow isolating sand grains, which is not possible with classical segmentation methods. Also, the approach has been tested using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, CNNs did not give as good results as the superpixels method. The superpixels are also exploited to extract features related to a sand grain. These image characteristics form the raw dataset. Prior to proceed with the classification, a data cleaning stage is necessary to get a usable dataset for machine learning algorithms. In addition, we present a comparison of performances of several algorithms. The overall obtained results are approximately 90% and demonstrate the concept of mineral recognition from a sample of sand grains provided by a numerical image

On the flexibility of the design of Multiple Try Metropolis schemes

The Multiple Try Metropolis (MTM) method is a generalization of the classical Metropolis-Hastings algorithm in which the next state of the chain is chosen among a set of samples, according to normalized weights. In the literature, several extensions have been proposed. In this work, we show and remark upon the flexibility of the design of MTM-type methods, fulfilling the detailed balance condition. We discuss several possibilities and show different numerical results

Automated gold grain counting: a quantum leap in drift exploration

Counting gold grains in glacial drift is a wellproven exploration technique. However, it is limited by the size of grains that can be recovered and observed, experiencing a recuperation collapse below 50 micrometres. Since ore petrography indicates the overwhelming abundance of very small gold grains, concentrating observation on the smaller fractions will improve accordingly the efficiency of the method. A dependable counting of very small particles is beyond the realm of human skill and requires automation. First, recovery must be conducted by methods which achieve constant concentration factors in the orders of 1:100,000 with constant recovery. Second the identification process requires the use of fully automated scanning techniques based on visible light image analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM) interoperability. The technique here described enable recovery and counting of gold grains down to a few microns, plus the acquisition of high magnification images to characterize grain shape and EDSSDD analyses. Results not only enable the detection of faint gold grains dispersion trains, but also characterized the grains in regard of their source rocks taking into account their chemical signature and morphology. A new classification of “pristine” grains in regard of their relation to host minerals is proposed

Columbitization of fluorcalciopyrochlore by hydrothermalism at the Saint-Honoré alkaline complex, Québec (Canada) : new insights on halite in carbonatites

Niobium (Nb) in carbonatite is mainly hosted in fluorcalciopyrochlore and columbite-(Fe). Information related to Nb petrogenesis is useful for understanding the processes related to Nb mineralization and carbonatite evolution. The Saint-Honoré, Quebec, alkaline complex offers a rare opportunity for studying these processes as the complex is not affected by post-emplacement deformation, metamorphism nor weathering. Columbite-(Fe) is shown to be an alteration product of fluorcalciopyrochlore (columbitization). Columbitization is characterized by the leaching of Na and F from the A- and Y-sites of the pyrochlore crystal structure. As alteration increases, Fe and Mn are slowly introduced while Ca is simultaneously leached. Leached Ca and F then crystallize as inclusions of calcite and fluorite within the columbite-(Fe). A-site cations and vacancies in the crystal structure of fresh and altered pyrochlores demonstrate that pyrochlore alteration is hydrothermal in origin. Moreover, halite is a ubiquitous mineral in the Saint-Honoré alkaline complex. Petrographic evidence shows that halite forms in weakly altered pyrochlores, suggesting halite has a secondary origin. As alteration increases, halite is expelled by the hydrothermal fluid and is carried farther into the complex, filling factures throughout the carbonatite. The hydrothermal hypothesis is strengthened by significant enrichments in Cl and HREEs in columbite-(Fe). Chlorine is most likely introduced by a hydrothermal fluid that increases the solubility of REEs

Diffusion of hydrogen in crystalline silicon

The coefficient of diffusion of hydrogen in crystalline silicon is calculated using tight-binding molecular dynamics. Our results are in good quantitative agreement with an earlier study by Panzarini and Colombo [Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1636 (1994)]. However, while our calculations indicate that long jumps dominate over single hops at high temperatures, no abrupt change in the diffusion coefficient can be observed with decreasing temperature. The (classical) Arrhenius diffusion parameters, as a consequence, should extrapolate to low temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, including 5 postscript figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. B Brief Repor