Digital Frequency Domain Multiplexer for mm-Wavelength Telescopes

An FPGA based digital signal processing (DSP) system for biasing and reading out multiplexed bolometric detectors for mm-wavelength telescopes is presented. This readout system is being deployed for balloon-borne and ground based cosmology experiments with the primary goal of measuring the signature of inflation with the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. The system consists of analog superconducting electronics running at 250mK and 4K, coupled to digital room temperature backend electronics described here. The digital electronics perform the real time functionality with DSP algorithms implemented in firmware. A soft embedded processor provides all of the slow housekeeping control and communications. Each board in the system synthesizes multi-frequency combs of 8 to 32 carriers in the MHz band to bias the detectors. After the carriers have been modulated with the sky-signal by the detectors, the same boards digitize the comb directly. The carriers are mixed down to base-band and low pass filtered. The signal bandwidth of 0.050 Hz - 100 Hz places extreme requirements on stability and requires powerful filtering techniques to recover the sky-signal from the MHz carriers.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, Submitted May 2007 to IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (TNS

The Future of Retirement and the Pension System: How the Public’s Expectations Vary over Time and across Socio-Economic Groups

We analyze expectations of the Dutch population of ages 25 and older concerning the future generosity state and occupational pensions, the two main pillars of the Dutch pension system. Since the summer of 2006, monthly survey data were collected on the expectations of Dutch households concerning purchasing power of occupational pensions, eligibility and purchasing power of old age social security benefits, and the average retirement age ten or twenty years from now. We investigate how these expectations have changed over time and how they vary with socio-economic characteristics. Exploiting the fact that we have data until September 2010, we also analyze the effect of the recent financial and economic crisis. We find significant differences in expectations of different socio-economic groups, mainly suggesting that groups who are probably better informed were also more pessimistic.subjective probabilities;old age social security;occupational pensions

The Future of Retirement and the Pension System: How the Public's Expectations Vary over Time and across Socio-Economic Groups

We analyze expectations of the Dutch population of ages 25 and older concerning the future generosity state and occupational pensions, the two main pillars of the Dutch pension system. Since the summer of 2006, monthly survey data were collected on the expectations of Dutch households concerning purchasing power of occupational pensions, eligibility and purchasing power of old age social security benefits, and the average retirement age ten or twenty years from now. We investigate how these expectations have changed over time and how they vary with socio-economic characteristics. Exploiting the fact that we have data until September 2010, we also analyze the effect of the recent financial and economic crisis. We find significant differences in expectations of different socio-economic groups, mainly suggesting that groups who are probably better informed were also more pessimistic.subjective probabilities, old age social security, occupational pensions

Pinpointing brainstem mechanisms responsible for autonomic dysfunction in Rett syndrome:therapeutic perspectives for 5-HT1A agonists

Rett syndrome is a neurological disorder caused by loss of function of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Reduced function of this ubiquitous transcriptional regulator has a devastating effect on the central nervous system. One of the most severe and life-threatening presentations of this syndrome is brainstem dysfunction, which results in autonomic disturbances such as breathing deficits, typified by episodes of breathing cessation intercalated with episodes of hyperventilation or irregular breathing. Defects in numerous neurotransmitter systems have been observed in Rett syndrome both in animal models and patients. Here we dedicate special attention to serotonin due to its role in promoting regular breathing, increasing vagal tone, regulating mood, alleviating Parkinsonian-like symptoms and potential for therapeutic translation. A promising new symptomatic strategy currently focuses on regulation of serotonergic function using highly selective serotonin type 1A (5-HT1A) biased agonists. We address this newly emerging therapy for respiratory brainstem dysfunction and challenges for translation with a holistic perspective of Rett syndrome, considering potential mood and motor effects

Converser à Scoudouc ou ailleurs. Installations poétiques et espaces dialogiques

Dans une grande partie de son oeuvre écrite, Herménégilde Chiasson manifeste un attrait profond pour l’art contemporain, notamment pour le travail sur le contexte effectué par ce dernier. Cela l’amène à maintes reprises à s’inspirer de la pratique de l’installation pour composer ses recueils que j’analyserai en faisant ressortir le lien entre cette pratique composite et la valorisation du travail du lecteur, laquelle fait de l’oeuvre du poète une véritable conversation.In many of his writings, Herménégilde Chiasson shows that he is profoundly drawn to contemporary art, and particularly to the work carried out on context by contemporary artists. The practice of installation has been a recurrent inspiration to him in putting together his poetry collections. In analyzing these works, I will focus on the connection between this composite practice and the emphasis placed on the role of the reader, an emphasis that makes the poet’s work a genuine conversation.En una gran parte de su obra escrita, Herménégilde Chiasson manifiesta un profundo atractivo por el arte contemporáneo, en particular por el trabajo sobre el contexto realizado por este último. Esto lo lleva, en varias ocasiones, a inspirarse en la práctica de la instalación para componer sus libros de poemas que analizaré, haciendo hincapié en el vínculo entre esta práctica compuesta y la valorización del trabajo del lector, lo cual transforma la obra del poeta en verdadera conversación

Une Pentecôte pour Judas : Blasphème et baptême dans la poétique de Denis Vanier

Tributaire d’une esthétique misant sur l’inspiration et la singularité, l’oeuvre de Denis Vanier valorise la transgression tout en réactivant des schèmes appartenant au sacré. Si les images du martyr et de la rédemption y sont présentes, la construction d’une figure du poète à la fois occulte, christique et prométhéenne s’assortit d’une résistance au religieux. Il s’agit dans cet article d’éclairer la référence au mythe de la Pentecôte, présente dans le surnom « Langue de feu » décerné à l’auteur, ainsi qu’à travers maints renvois à l’ignition et au christianisme. Baptême de feu, voire immolation, cette écriture oscille entre la transfiguration du corps et sa destruction violente, ce qui est ici détaillé à partir de plusieurs extraits des recueils.Based on an aesthetic of inspiration and singularity, the work of Denis Vanier attributes value to transgression while reactivating models that belong to the sacred. While images of martyrs and redemption are present, the construction of a poet-figure who is all at once occult, Christ-like and Promethean combines with resistance to the religious realm. This article attempts to shed light on the reference to the Pentecost myth embodied in the author’s nickname “Tongue of fire”, and in multiple mentions of ignition and Christianity. Baptism by fire or even immolation, Vanier’s writing swings between transfiguration and violent destruction of the body, as is shown here through excerpts from the poems

Orthodoxie fédéraliste et relations régionales transfrontières, une menace illusoire

Following a few studies published in the United States and Canada, the author examines formal relations between some American states and Canadian provinces to assess their effect on the conduct of relations between both federal governments. She studies the regional "summits" where American governors meet Canadian premiers, particularly the annual Conference of New England Governors and Quebec and Maritime premiers, with some references to similar organizations just beginning in the West, and in the South with Mexican states. She concludes that federal governments keep substantial control over this "regional diplomacy". Washington and Mexico retain control more directly, and Canada indirectly via major subsidies to some provincial programs, and rulings on international economic relations. As a political instance, the regional Conference has gone from a goal of « integrated regional development » in 1974, to a simple « agency for mutual information » today. Its decisions do not seem to contradict federal policies in any significant way. In Canada, it may nevertheless induce a vague for m of continentalism, going contrary to Ottawa's new nationalism

Des rédemptions à crédit : Le sujet-théâtre et les retournements orphiques de Claude Gauvreau

À partir du cas de Claude Gauvreau, il est question dans cet article d’un théâtre identitaire par lequel cet auteur élabore sa propre figure en associant et en croisant des représentations d’individus marquants de sa vie. Êtres inaccessibles ou décédés, ces « fantômes » agissent à titre de personnages dans une dynamique subjective qui coïncide avec les lignes de force des Oeuvres créatrices complètes, projet rétrospectif dont l’auteur a lui-même élaboré le plan. Qu’elle ravive l’amante suicidée, le peintre Paul-Émile Borduas ou le père absent, l’écriture de Gauvreau se veut une lyrique de l’impossible, où les répétitions sémantiques et sonores articulent le paradoxe d’un chant orphique qui regagne en perpétuant la perte.Through the example of Claude Gauvreau, this article is concerned with a theater of the self, where the author works his own figure by combining representations of some important people of his life. Unreachable or deceased beings, these “ ghosts ” act as characters in an identitary dynamic that coincides with the guidelines of Oeuvres créatrices complètes, a retrospective project conceived by Gauvreau himself before his death in 1971. Resurrecting either the dead lover Muriel Guilbault, or the painter Paul-Émile Borduas or the absent father, Gauvreau’s writing appears as a lyric of the impossible, where semantic and phonic repetitions articulate a paradox of an orphic chant which regains by reiterating the loss