Rhapsodie sur la forme et le fond de l’harmonisation juridique

L’auteur soutient dans le texte qui suit que les aspects par lesquels l’harmonisation du droit fédéral avec les droits communs provinciaux, qui a été entreprise par le gouvernement fédéral, diffère de son éponyme, l’harmonie musicale, soulèvent de cruciales controverses relatives aux théories du fédéralisme canadien et à la philosophie du droit. Tandis que le projet d’harmonisation juridique, tel qu’il a été conçu par ses architectes, peut être caractérisé comme une approche par le haut (top-down), approche conforme avec le positivisme juridique, l’harmonie musicale est mieux décrite comme une approche par le bas (bottom-up), approche plus conforme au pluralisme juridique. Si elle atteignait ses objectifs, l’initiative d’harmonisation juridique fédérale aurait comme effet d’enchâsser une vision selon laquelle le droit civil appartient exclusivement au gouvernement québécois. Or, malgré les ambitions de ses architectes, l’initiative d’harmonisation, dans sa mise en oeuvre, se révèle indisciplinée, soulevant de nombreux débats et interrogations. D’ailleurs, loin d’être un signe négatif, les débats et les désaccords font eux-mêmes partie de la pratique de l’harmonisation.The ways in which the harmonization of federal and provincial law undertaken by the federal government differs from its namesake, musical harmony, illuminate crucial controversies regarding theories of Canadian federalism and legal philosophy. While the legal harmonization project, as conceived by its designers, can be characterized as top-down, and consistent with legal positivism, musical harmony is better viewed as bottom-up, an approach more consistent with legal pluralism. Were it to attain its objectives, the legal harmonization project would entrench a vision of the civil law as belonging exclusively to the government of Quebec. Despite its architects’ ambitions, however, the harmonization project, in its implementation, has shown itself to be unruly, generating many debates and questions. Far from being negative, these debates and disagreements are themselves part of the practice of harmonization

Comparison of Staggered Grid Finite Difference Schemes for Ultrasound Simulation in Curving Composites

The optimization of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) simulation tools for composites has the potential to reduce both individual part inspection time and overall certification time for composite parts and structures. Inspection guidance based on simulation provides increased confidence in the veracity of inspection results in addition to time reductions. This paper outlines ongoing work targeted to advance this objective through the use of finite difference (FD) simulation techniques formulated for composite structures with realistic geometries. Two staggered grid explicit FD schemes which show promise for this purpose are assessed: the Lebedev FD scheme and the rotated staggered grid (RSG) FD scheme. Algorithmic points which provide challenges for complex geometries are addressed, in particular handling of traction free surfaces and bi-material interfaces present at lamina boundaries. Code execution time estimates are performed as well to guide feasible domain sizes relative to algorithm choice and available hardware. Three test cases are simulated: a delaminated plate, a cylinder, and a triclinic lamina. These tests demonstrate that the Lebedev FD scheme needs additional work to handle inter-laminar interfaces and traction free boundaries in the presence of stair-stepping approximations. In contrast, the simple structure of the RSG unit cell makes it more straightforward to construct a 3D simulation technique for curved composite laminates

Asymptotische Eigenschaften von Hoppe-Bäumen

The Hoppe tree is a family of randomly growing tree models, where the growth dynamic is given by the evolution of the Hoppe urn as follows: The distinguished ball that initializes the Hoppe urn corresponds to the root of the Hoppe tree. In the Hoppe urn this balls has probability proportional to a parameter theta>0 to be drawn, all other balls have probability proportional to 1. Whenever a ball is drawn it is placed back to the urn together with a new ball which corresponds to a node being inserted in the Hoppe tree as a child of the node that corresponds to the ball drawn. For the special case theta=1 the Hoppe tree coincides with the random recursive tree. We give asymptotic results on mean, variance and limit laws for the depth of nodes, the height, the path length and the number of leaves of the Hoppe tree and clarify the dependence upon the parameter theta.Der Hoppe-Baum ist eine zufällig wachsende, diskrete Baumstuktur, wobei die stochastische Dynamik durch die Entwicklung der Hoppe Urne wie folgt gegeben ist: Die ausgezeichnete Kugel mit der die Hoppe Urne startet entspricht der Wurzel des Hoppe Baumes. In der Hoppe Urne wird diese Kugel mit Wahrscheinlichkeit proportional zu einem Parameter theta>0 gezogen, alle anderen Kugeln werden mit Wahrscheinlichkeit proportional zu 1 gezogen. Wann immer eine Kugel gezogen wird, wird sie zusammen mit einer neuen Kugel in die Urne zurückgelegt, was in unserem Baum dem Einfügen eines neuen Kindes an den gezogenen Knoten entspricht. Im Spezialfall theta=1 erhält man einen zufälligen rekursiven Baum. In der Arbeit werden Erwartungswerte, Varianzen und Grenzwertsätze für Tiefe, Höhe, Pfadlänge und die Anzahl der Blätter gegeben

A limit theorem for the six-length of random functional graphs with a fixed degree sequence

We obtain results on the limiting distribution of the six-length of a random functional graph, also called a functional digraph or random mapping, with given in-degree sequence. The six-length of a vertex $v\in V$ is defined from the associated mapping, $f:V\to V$, to be the maximum $i\in V$ such that the elements $v, f(v), \ldots, f^{i-1}(v)$ are all distinct. This has relevance to the study of algorithms for integer factorisation

Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO)

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) is a mission, led and developed by NASA, that will measure a variety of climate variables with an unprecedented accuracy to quantify and attribute climate change. CLARREO consists of three separate instruments: an infrared (IR) spectrometer, a reflected solar (RS) spectrometer, and a radio occultation (RO) instrument. The mission will contain orbiting radiometers with sufficient accuracy, including on orbit verification, to calibrate other space-based instrumentation, increasing their respective accuracy by as much as an order of magnitude. The IR spectrometer is a Fourier Transform spectrometer (FTS) working in the 5 to 50 microns wavelength region with a goal of 0.1 K (k = 3) accuracy. The FTS will achieve this accuracy using phase change cells to verify thermistor accuracy and heated halos to verify blackbody emissivity, both on orbit. The RS spectrometer will measure the reflectance of the atmosphere in the 0.32 to 2.3 microns wavelength region with an accuracy of 0.3% (k = 2). The status of the instrumentation packages and potential mission options will be presented

Age-related shifts in hemispheric dominance for syntactic processing

Genetic factors related to handedness, such as history of familial sinistrality, have been linked to neuroanatomical and neurophysiological differences in a variety of brain areas, including those associated with language. However, the functional implications of these differences remain unclear. Recent event-related potential (ERP) data from young adults have revealed that simple syntactic anomalies elicit a different pattern of lateralization depending upon the familial sinistrality of the participant. Whereas participants with left handed family members elicited a bilateral P600, a component that is typically seen in adult native speakers to syntactic processing difficulties, participants with no history of familial sinistrality showed a strongly lateralized response pattern, with P600 responses only following left hemisphere-biased presentations. Given that the aging literature has documented a tendency to change from asymmetry of function to a more bilateral pattern with advancing age, we tested the stability of this asymmetric response to syntactic violations by recording ERPs as 24 older adults (age 60+) with no history of familial sinistrality made grammaticality judgments on simple two-word phrases. Results showed that the asymmetric pattern observed in young adults indeed changes with age, such that P600 responses come to be elicited bilaterally even in individuals without familial sinistrality. These findings suggest that, as with many other cognitive functions, syntactic processing becomes more bilateral with age, possibly because of reduced interhemispheric inhibition

3D Modeling of Ultrasonic Wave Interaction with Disbonds and Weak Bonds

Ultrasonic techniques, such as the use of guided waves, can be ideal for finding damage in the plate and pipe-like structures used in aerospace applications. However, the interaction of waves with real flaw types and geometries can lead to experimental signals that are difficult to interpret. 3-dimensional (3D) elastic wave simulations can be a powerful tool in understanding the complicated wave scattering involved in flaw detection and for optimizing experimental techniques. We have developed and implemented parallel 3D elastodynamic finite integration technique (3D EFIT) code to investigate Lamb wave scattering from realistic flaws. This paper discusses simulation results for an aluminum-aluminum diffusion disbond and an aluminum-epoxy disbond and compares results from the disbond case to the common artificial flaw type of a flat-bottom hole. The paper also discusses the potential for extending the 3D EFIT equations to incorporate physics-based weak bond models for simulating wave scattering from weak adhesive bonds