Les minorités en France, au Canada et au Québec : minoritaires ou mineures?

Les minorités dans les États contemporains sont à la fois minoritaires et mineures. L’État libéral, à la française, nie leur existence légale mais les reconnaît de facto. L’État corporatiste, à la canadienne et à la québécoise, répartit la population en trois groupes : les Amérindiens, les peuples fondateurs et les autres. Les premiers jouissent de droits exclusifs, les autres, les minorités, de droits négatifs (non-discrimation et éducation) et, dans certains cas, positifs (programmes d’accès à l’égalité).La définition des minorités aboutit à des droits réservés avec politiques et administrations spécialisées. Paradoxalement, l’État libéral traite de manière pragmatique les minorités qu’il se refuse de reconnaître alors que l’État corporatiste ne cesse de multiplier les distinctions entre les groupes de la société, marginalisant ainsi les minorités.Minorities, in contemporary States, are both inferior in number and in status. Liberal State, such as France, negates the legal existence of minorities but does recognize them de facto. Corporate State, such as Canada and Quebec, divides its population in three different groups: Amerindians, founding people, others. Amerindians and founding people have exclusive rights, other, the minorities, negative ones (non-distrimination, education) and a few positive ones (affirmative action). Definition of minorities leads to reserved rights with their ad hoc policies and administrations. Paradoxically, liberal State treats with pragmatism minorities whose existence it denies whereas corporate State multiplies the distinctions between groups within society, making minorities even more marginalized

Cybersecurity and the Protection of Digital Assets: Assessing the Role of International Investment Law and Arbitration

The digital era provides many opportunities, yet it also presents several unique challenges with regard to cybersecurity and the protection of digital assets. Cybercrime has changed the international legal landscape as nations, businesses, and legislators grapple with how to deal with this rapidly evolving, multifaceted problem. As there is no international mechanism for protection of foreign investors in this regard, some scholars are advocating for the use of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) as part of a \u27olycentric approach to cyber peace. With an uptick in digital development and more development on the horizon, it will be important to establish what protections-if any-BITs can provide for these digital assets. This Article explores this issue by (1) addressing digital assets as covered investments and (2) examining three potential investment claims

Investigation of the genetic components of maternal infanticide in Sus Scrofa

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the genetic components of maternal infanticide in the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). The killing of piglets by sows by eating them soon after birth is a significant issue for the pig breeding industry because of the impact on animal welfare and the cost in lost revenues. There is evidence that part of this behavior has a genetic basis and this work aims at finding the genes and genome regions linked to this trait. This study focuses on animals from four different breed lines; two have around a 5% incidence of infanticide and two have around a 10% incidence of infanticide. The first half of this work used a genotyping approach using the pig 60K SNP array from Illumina. Two different tests were used to analyse the data: Family Based Association Test (FBAT) and Parent of Origin (PO) test. The FBAT approach uses pedigree information to test for association in the presence of linkage and the PO approach tests for preferential transmission of allele from one parent (this study focused on maternal transmission). The results from the tests, along with previous results generated by our group, were used to design three sequence capture sets in order to study these regions in more detail. The sequencing work was done on a selection of animals grouped in pools, for each line two pools of infanticide animals were selected: animals with an history of infanticide in the pedigree and animals with multiple instances of infanticide. Once sequencing was completed, variants were called on the region of interest, for each pool and the different capture sets, using the Genome Analysis Tool Kit. The variant allele frequencies in the pool was compared between control pools and infanticide pools to select target variants. Some of the variants identified are interesting targets and identify genes of interests

The Funding Debate: Optimizing Pension Risk within a Corporate Risk Budget

Defined Benefit (DB) pension risk management has traditionally focused on achieving a balance between the risks associated with the liabilities and the expected returns on investments. This approach does not capture the fact that a DB pension plan is part of running an overall business and must compete for capital against alternative investments the corporation can make. Pension funding strategies should be assessed against other corporate cash uses and strategies, such as investment in productive capacity, research and development initiatives, share or debt buybacks, or potential acquisitions. Considering pension funding relative to potential corporate actions within the same net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) or similar analytical framework, a company can optimise the use of available cash resources and balance alternative strategies against each other

Integrators of the Cytoskeleton that Stabilize Microtubules

AbstractSensory neurodegeneration occurs in mice defective in BPAG1, a gene encoding cytoskeletal linker proteins capable of anchoring neuronal intermediate filaments to actin cytoskeleton. While BPAG1 null mice fail to anchor neurofilaments (NFs), BPAG1/NF null mice still degenerate in the absence of NFs. We report a novel neural splice form that lacks the actin-binding domain and instead binds and stabilizes microtubules. This interaction is functionally important; in mice and in vitro, neurons lacking BPAG1 display short, disorganized, and unstable microtubules defective in axonal transport. Ironically, BPAG1 neural isoforms represent microtubule-associated proteins that when absent lead to devastating consequences. Moreover, BPAG1 can functionally account for the extraordinary stability of axonal microtubules necessary for transport over long distances. Its isoforms interconnect all three cytoskeletal networks, a feature apparently central to neuronal survival