Design of New Materials for Passive Vibration Control

The objective of this contribution is to extend the models of cellular/composite material design to nonlinear material behaviour and apply them for design of materials for passive vibration control. As a first step a computational tool allowing determination of optimised one-dimensional isolator behaviour was developed. This model can serve as a representation for idealised macroscopic behaviour. Optimal isolator behaviour to a given set of loads is obtained by generic probabilistic metaalgorithm, simulated annealing. Cost functional involves minimization of maximum response amplitude in a set of predefined time intervals and maximization of total energy absorbed in the first loop. Dependence of the global optimum on several combinations of leading parameters of the simulated annealing procedure, like neighbourhood definition and annealing schedule, is also studied and analyzed. Obtained results facilitate the design of elastomeric cellular materials with improved behaviour in terms of dynamic stiffness for passive vibration control.

Design of New Materials for Passive Vibration Control

The aim of this contribution is to extend the techniques of composite materials design to non-linear material behaviour and apply it for design of new materials for passive vibration control. As a first step a computational tool allowing determination of macroscopic optimized one-dimensional isolator behaviour was developed. Voigt, Maxwell, standard and more complex material models can be implemented. Objective function considers minimization of the initial reaction and/or displacement peak as well as minimization of the steady-state amplitude of reaction and/or displacement. The complex stiffness approach is used to formulate the governing equations in an efficient way. Material stiffness parameters are assumed as non-linear functions of the displacement. The numerical solution is performed in the complex space. The steady-state solution in the complex space is obtained by an iterative process based on the shooting method which imposes the conditions of periodicity with respect to the known value of the period. Extension of the shooting method to the complex space is presented and verified. Non-linear behaviour of material parameters is then optimized by generic probabilistic meta-algorithm, simulated annealing. Dependence of the global optimum on several combinations of leading parameters of the simulated annealing procedure, like neighbourhood definition and annealing schedule, is also studied and analyzed. Procedure is programmed in MATLAB environment.

Hausdorff dimension bounds for smoothness of holonomies for codimension 1 hyperbolic dynamics

We prove that the stable holonomies of a proper codimension 1 attractor Λ, for a Cr diffeomorphism f of a surface, are not C1+θ for θ greater than the Hausdorff dimension of the stable leaves of f intersected with Λ. To prove this result we show that there are no diffeomorphisms of surfaces, with a proper codimension 1 attractor, that are affine on a neighbourhood of the attractor and have affine stable holonomies on the attractor.

Balancing and lot-sizing mixed-model lines in the footwear industry

This report describes the full research proposal for the project \Balancing and lot-sizing mixed-model lines in the footwear industry", to be developed as part of the master program in Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores - Sistemas de Planeamento Industrial of the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto. The Portuguese footwear industry is undergoing a period of great development and innovation. The numbers speak for themselves, Portugal footwear exported 71 million pairs of shoes to over 130 countries in 2012. It is a diverse sector, which covers different categories of women, men and children shoes, each of them with various models. New and technologically advanced mixed-model assembly lines are being projected and installed to replace traditional mass assembly lines. Obviously there is a need to manage them conveniently and to improve their operations. This work focuses on balancing and lot-sizing stitching mixed-model lines in a real world environment. For that purpose it will be fundamental to develop and evaluate adequate effective solution methods. Different objectives may be considered, which are relevant for the companies, such as minimizing the number of workstations, and minimizing the makespan, while taking into account a lot of practical restrictions. The solution approaches will be based on approximate methods, namely by resorting to metaheuristics. To show the impact of having different lots in production the initial maximum amount for each lot is changed and a Tabu Search based procedure is used to improve the solutions. The developed approaches will be evaluated and tested. A special attention will be given to the solution of real applied problems. Future work may include the study of other neighbourhood structures related to Tabu Search and the development of ways to speed up the evaluation of neighbours, as well as improving the balancing solution method.

A Constructivist perspective on EU'S democracy promotion in Turkey

The European Union, as a regional actor and an example of stability and well-being, has embraced a set of principles it has stood for and which constitute its own identity. The diffusion of these values among third countries is one of the objectives of EU’s External Policy. Democracy can be found among the principles that are sought to be exported through comprehensive and complex strategies within different frameworks, such as neighbourhood relations, trade partnerships and the accession process. Focusing on the latter, candidates are object of an intensive process of Europeanisation that operates through different mechanisms like socialisation and conditionality. Turkey, on the other side, has decided to apply for full membership several decades ago and, ever since, it has been pressured to Europeanise, which includes improving its unstable democracy. This case, however, is different from all other previous enlargements; for its special socio-cultural and civilisational features, Turkey constitutes a more complex novelty for the European Union. Therefore, this thesis aims to study the influence of the European Union on the democratisation process of Turkey, focusing on the period ranging between 1999, the year the European Council recognised Turkey’s candidacy status, and 2009 that marks the 10-year period of that condition. It is the intention of this project to assess the impact of the European Union at that level through the study of the democratic evolution of the country and its co-relation with other variables related to the presence or pressure of the EU. As this is a challenging objective, it will require a deep reflection upon central concepts like democracy and democratic consolidation, and a diversified use of methodological techniques, such as statistical analysis and mathematical co-relations, historical analysis, literature review and in-depth interviews. This study will privilege a Constructivist approach, emphasising the social construction of reality and the role of the ideational aspects – identity, perceptions and the broader socio-cultural dimension – in Turkey-EU relations.

As relações UE-Ucrânia ao abrigo da parceria oriental: a projecção de poder da UE perante a Rússia e a criação de um limite entre dois cosmos

A crise política que teve início com a suspensão do Acordo de Associação da Ucrânia, em Setembro de 2014, reacendeu o debate sobre as implicações e consequências das relações da União Europeia (UE) ao nível da Parceria Oriental para com as suas relações bilaterais com a Rússia. A Ucrânia, que se encontra numa tradicional esfera de influência para a Rússia, e que por motivos históricos, económicos e políticos, se assume de grande relevo para a Europa, conheceu diversas fases de aproximação e contenção nas suas relações com a UE. Apesar da existência de uma fronteira geográfica entre a UE e a sua periferia, a UE estende-se, através das suas políticas desenvolvidas ao abrigo da Parceria Oriental, para além das linhas de Schengen. A Política Europeia de Vizinhança, contribui para o diluir das barreiras naturais através dos seus programas políticos, culturais e económicos. No entanto, a UE não conhece ainda uma verdadeira fronteira civilizacional – um limite no qual o mundo externo é demasiado diferente da sua génese e não poderá ser integrado no seu centro. A Rússia - um limite natural para a UE-, procura também estender a sua influência para além das suas fronteiras. Ambos se cruzam na região abrangida pela Parceria Oriental, procurando encontrar um limite real para o seu cosmos. A UE utiliza diversos instrumentos e capacidades por forma a desenvolver as relações com a sua vizinhança. Estes estão, no entanto, amplamente condicionados pela coesão interna da própria UE – a sua capacidade de gerar consenso por forma a formular políticas e desenvolver instrumentos. As relações desenvolvidas ao abrigo da Parceria Oriental são ainda influenciadas pela sua própria periferia, nomeadamente na vontade de assimilar ou não as políticas da UE. No caso específico da Ucrânia, que se manteve durante muito tempo num limbo geopolítico, no qual não se alinhou nem com a Rússia, nem com a UE, mas apenas com políticas específicas de ambos os cosmos, esta decisão acarta consequências drásticas na relação com o cosmo excluído. E, acima de tudo, a associação da Ucrânia à UE impacta directamente as relações bilaterais com a Rússia. Apesar da assinatura do Acordo de Associação com a UE, a Ucrânia não tomou ainda uma decisão civilizacional de integração num destes dois cosmos. E, a própria UE, também ainda apresenta sinais de hesitação. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação pretende compreender de que forma a Parceria Oriental tem contribuído para estas questões, analisando as consequências das relações UE-Ucrânia, desenvolvidas ao abrigo da Parceria Oriental, para a projecção de poder da UE perante a Rússia.

As peculiaridades da democratização da região do Cáucaso do Sul no contexto da Política Europeia de Vizinhança

O período após o colapso da União Soviética foi o tempo da procura de novas identidades na nova realidade e de escolha de novos parceiros e aliados, o tempo da construção de novos estados e de formulação das regras e normas nacionais. Após o desmoronamento da ideologia soviética - um facto reconhecido oficialmente durante o período da Perestroika –, as pessoas sentiram uma necessidade de preencher o vácuo ideológico e desenvolver uma nova identidade. Foi proclamada a rejeição da estrutura política administrativa herdada da União Soviética e do sistema de economia planificada, e desenvolvida a tendência para a construção do estado democrático fundado numa economia de mercado. As expectativas relativas às transformações no período pós-soviético estavam relacionadas com o Ocidente (EUA e UE), e a construção do estado soberano foi fundada em modelos ocidentais de estado de direito, ‘boa governança’ e a economia de mercado. A UE desempenhou um papel importante na democratização dos estados da região do Sul do Cáucaso através de vários projetos e programas bilaterais e multilaterais no âmbito da Política Europeia de Vizinhança e da Parceria Oriental. Embora as reformas democráticas tenham sido realizadas com vista ao estabelecimento de uma Constituição democrática, à implementação de eleições democráticas e ao desenvolvimento da sociedade civil, fortaleceram, também, ainda mais, a natureza autoritária do poder, impediram a criação de um estado de direito, reforçaram violação dos direitos e das liberdades humanas. (NODIYA, 2003: 30; BAKHMAN, 2003: 17; BADALOV, 2003: 20). Deste modo, o processo da promoção da democracia através das reformas nos três estados do Sul do Cáucaso conduziu à criação de estados de “conteúdo autocrático misto, mas de forma democrática” (CHETERYAN, 2003: 41). Embora seja possível identificar as semelhanças entre os três estados da região do Sul do Cáucaso nas reformas do processo de desenvolvimento, os métodos e meios de implementação de reformas nas realidades dos estados regionais pela administração nacional foram bastante diferentes, por razões associadas às especificidades de cada um (DELCOUR e WOLCZUK, 2013: 3). Cada país é caracterizado pelas suas peculiaridades ao nível da situação geopolítica e diversidade do potencial económico – fatores que definem a trajetória política e económica do estado no período pós-soviético e, em certa medida, influenciam o modo como se desenvolvem as relações com a UE e, portanto, o processo de adoção das reformas e a sua introdução a nível nacional.

Social trust : a public good?

Combining theories on social trust and social capital with sociopsychological approaches and applying contextual analyses to Swiss and European survey data, this thesis examines under what circumstances generalised trust, often understood as public good, may not benefit everyone, but instead amplify inequality. The empirical investigation focuses on the Swiss context, but considers different scales of analysis. Two broader questions are addressed. First, might generalised trust imply more or less narrow visions of community and solidarity in different contexts? Applying nonlinear principal component analysis to aggregate indicators, Study 1 explores inclusive and exclusive types of social capital in Europe, measured as regional configurations of generalised trust, civic participation and attitudes towards diversity. Study 2 employs multilevel models to examine how generalised trust, as an individual predisposition and an aggregate climate at the level of Swiss cantons, is linked to equality- directed collective action intention versus radical right support. Second, might high-trust climates impact negatively on disadvantaged members of society, precisely because they reflect a normative discourse of social harmony that impedes recognition of inequality? Study 3 compares how climates of generalised trust at the level of Swiss micro-regions and subjective perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion moderate the negative relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and mental health. Overall, demonstrating beneficial, as well as counterintuitive effects of social trust, this thesis proposes a critical and contextualised approach to the sources and dynamics of social cohesion in democratic societies. -- Cette thèse combine des théories sur le capital social et la confiance sociale avec des approches psychosociales et s'appuie sur des analyses contextuelles de données d'enquêtes suisses et européennes, afin d'étudier dans quelles circonstances la confiance généralisée, souvent présentée comme un bien public, pourrait ne pas bénéficier à tout le monde, mais amplifier les inégalités. Les études empiriques, centrées sur le contexte suisse, intègrent différentes échelles d'analyse et investiguent deux questions principales. Premièrement, la confiance généralisée implique-t-elle des visions plus ou moins restrictives de la communauté et de la solidarité selon le contexte? Dans l'étude 1, une analyse à composantes principales non-linéaire sur des indicateurs agrégés permet d'explorer des types de capital social inclusif et exclusif en Europe, mesurés par des configurations régionales de confiance généralisée, de participation civique, et d'attitudes envers la diversité. L'étude 2 utilise des modèles multiniveaux afin d'analyser comment la confiance généralisée, en tant que prédisposition individuelle et climat agrégé au niveau des cantons suisses, est associée à l'intention de participer à des actions collectives en faveur de l'égalité ou, au contraire, à l'intention de voter pour la droite radicale. Deuxièmement, des climats de haute confiance peuvent-ils avoir un impact négatif sur des membres désavantagés de la société, précisément parce qu'ils reflètent un discours normatif d'harmonie sociale qui empêche la reconnaissance des inégalités? L'étude 3 analyse comment des climats de confiance au niveau des micro-régions suisses et la perception subjective de faire partie d'un environnement cohésif modèrent la relation négative entre le désavantage socio-économique et la santé mentale. En démontrant des effets bénéfiques mais aussi contre-intuitifs de la confiance sociale, cette thèse propose une approche critique et contextualisée des sources et dynamiques de la cohésion sociale dans les sociétés démocratiques.

Exploring the experiences of youth in a development program with integrated physical activity in Costa Rica

National governments, the United Nations, and other organizations have deemed sport and other means of physical activity such as recreation, games and play for development a useful means for addressing a wide range of problems in communities and more specifically, providing youth with an opportunity to experience the benefits of physical activity. There is a need for research that furthers our understanding of how participants experience these programs. Specifically, the purpose of this study, was to better understand the lived experiences of the participants in a YMCA camp program that integrated physical activity and play for the specific development of poor youth street workers. A phenomenological approach infonned by a critical perspective (Creswell, 2003; Rossman & Rallis, 2003) was used. The study took place through the Asociaci6n Cristiana de J6venes de Costa Rica (ACJ) in Central America. The focus was on a camp program and the lived experiences of six purposefully chosen, youth street workers between the ages of 13-17. Their experiences were explored through semi-structured interviews. Other data that fonn the study include: field notes, observations, a reflexive journal and document analysis. The findings that emerged from the data include main themes of relationships, poverty, personal change and empowennent. For many youth, the ACJ is a relatively safe place to play, to "detach," their minds, to "distract" and "disorient" themselves from their dysfunctional families, violent neighbourhood, the poverty they live in, and from the necessity of having to work in the street to supplement the family income. Although many studies have shown that programs that include physical activity, play and/or sport have a positive impact on youth with regard to healthy development and improvements in well-being, there has been little work done to address the voices and experiences of the youth that participate in these programs. Using an interpretive-critical approach, this study focused on the participants' personal backgrounds, their experiences within the program and their critical reflections on the program. This study draws from a phenomenological philosophy and method to report findings from participants in an ACJ program in Costa Rica. This research shows how these youth were given the opportunity to use the program and the ACJ property as a relatively safe place to play, to behave like the youth they are, to establish and maintain their friendship networks, and develop empathy and conflict resolution skills. The fmdings from this study reveal how by participating in the ACJ program they each described a personal change, wherein they felt empowered to learn they could positivel y control themselves and as a result positively affect their own futures. These fmdings contribute knowledge surrounding the lived experiences of youth in developmental programs that use physical activity.

Learning to be literate : parental empowerment in early literacy interventions

Considerable research has focused on the success of early intervention programs for children. However, minimal research has focused on the effect these programs have on the parents of targeted children. Many current early intervention programs champion family-focused and inclusive programming, but few have evaluated parent participation in early interventions and fewer still have evaluated the impact of these programs on beliefs and attitudes and parenting practices. Since parents will continue to play a key role in their child's developmental course long after early intervention programs end, it is vital to examine whether these programs empower parents to take action to make changes in the lives of their children. The goal of this study was to understand parental influences on the early development of literacy, and in particular how parental attitudes, beliefs and self efficacy impact parent and child engagement in early literacy intervention activities. A mixed method procedure using quantitative and qualitative strategies was employed. A quasi-experimental research design was used. The research sample, sixty parents who were part of naturally occurring community interventions in at- risk neighbourhoods in a south-western Ontario city participated in the quantitative phase. Largely individuals whose home language was other than English, these participants were divided amongst three early literacy intervention groups, a Prescriptive Interventionist type group, a Participatory Empowering type group and a drop-in parent- child neighbourhood Control group. Measures completed pre and post a six session literacy intervention, on all three literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs. groups, were analyzed for evidence of change in parental attitudes and beliefs about early literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs.

A comprehensive examination of adolescent gambling

The purposes of this study were: a) to examine the prevalence and consequences associated with adolescent gambling, b) to examine the factors which influence adolescent gambling,. c) to detennine what factors discriminate among four groups of gamblers (no-risk/non-gamblers, low-risk gamblers, at-risk gamblers, and high-risk/problematic gamblers), and d) to examine the relation of gambling to nine other risk behaviours (i.e., alcohol use, smoking, marijuana use, hard drug use, sexual activity, minor delinquency, major delinquency, direct aggression, and indirect aggression). Adolescents (N = 3,767) from 25 secondary schools completed a twohour survey that assessed involvement in risk be~aviours as well as potential predictors from a wide range of contexts (school, neighbourhood, family, peer, and intrapersonal). The majority of adolescents reported gambling, although the frequency of gambling participation was low. The strongest predictors/discriminators of gambling involvement were gender, unstructured activities, structured activities, and risk attitudes/perceptions. In addition, the examination of the co-occurrence of gambling with other risk behaviours revealed that for high-risk/problem gamblers, the top three most frequent co-occurring high-risk behaviours were direct aggression, minor delinquency and alcohol. This study was the first to examine the continuum of gambling involvement (i.e., non-gambling to high risk/problematic gambling) using a comprehensive set ofpotential predictors with a large sample of secondary school students. The findings of this study support past research and theories (e.g., Theory of Triadic Influence) which suggest the importance ofproximal variables in predicting risk behaviors. The next step, however, will be to examine the direct and indirect 1 effects of the ultimate (e.g., temperament), distal (e.g., parental relationship), and proximal variables (e.g., risk attitudes/perceptions) on gambling involvement in a longitudinal study.

The role of molecular, clinical and socioeconomic factors in the long-term survival of axillary node negative breast cancer patients

The overall objective of this study was to investigate factors associated with long-term survival in axillary node negative (ANN) breast cancer patients. Clinical and biological factors included stage, histopathologic grade, p53 mutation, Her-2/neu amplification, estrogen receptor status (ER), progesterone receptor status (PR) and vascular invasion. Census derived socioeconomic (SES) indicators included median individual and household income, proportions of university educated individuals, housing type, "incidence" of low income and an indicator of living in an affluent neighbourhood. The effects of these measures on breast cancer-specific survival and competing cause survival were investigated. A cohort study examining survival among axillary node negative (ANN) breast cancer patients in the greater Toronto area commenced in 1 989. Patients were followed up until death, lost-to-follow up or study termination in 2004. Data were collected from several sources measuring patient demographics, clinical factors, treatment, recurrence of disease and survival. Census level SES data were collected using census geo-coding of patient addresses' at the time of diagnosis. Additional survival data were acquired from the Ontario Cancer Registry to enhance and extend the observation period of the study. Survival patterns were examined using KaplanMeier and life table procedures. Associations were examined using log-rank and Wilcoxon tests of univariate significance. Multivariate survival analyses were perfonned using Cox proportional hazards models. Analyses were stratified into less than and greater than 5 year survival periods to observe whether known markers of short-tenn survival were also associated with reductions in long-tenn survival among breast cancer patients. The 15 year survival probabilities in this cohort were: for breast cancerspecific survival 0.88, competing causes survival 0.89 and for overall survival 0.78. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status (Hazard Ratio (HR) ERIPR- versus ER+/PR+, 8.15,95% CI, 4.74, 14.00), p53 mutation (HR, 3.88, 95% CI, 2.00, 7.53) and Her-2 amplification (HR, 2.66, 95% CI, 1.36, 5.19) were associated with significant reductions in short-tenn breast cancer-specific survival «5 years following diagnosis), however, not with long-term survival in univariate analyses. Stage, histopathologic grade and ERiPR status were the clinicallbiologieal factors that were associated with short-term breast cancer specific survival in multivariate results. Living in an affluent neighbourhood (top quintile of median household income compared to the rest of the population) was associated with the largest significant increase in long-tenn breast cancer-specific survival after adjustment for stage, histopathologic grade and treatment (HR, 0.36, 95% CI, 0.12, 0.89).

Properties and algorithms of the hyper-star graph and its related graphs

The hyper-star interconnection network was proposed in 2002 to overcome the drawbacks of the hypercube and its variations concerning the network cost, which is defined by the product of the degree and the diameter. Some properties of the graph such as connectivity, symmetry properties, embedding properties have been studied by other researchers, routing and broadcasting algorithms have also been designed. This thesis studies the hyper-star graph from both the topological and algorithmic point of view. For the topological properties, we try to establish relationships between hyper-star graphs with other known graphs. We also give a formal equation for the surface area of the graph. Another topological property we are interested in is the Hamiltonicity problem of this graph. For the algorithms, we design an all-port broadcasting algorithm and a single-port neighbourhood broadcasting algorithm for the regular form of the hyper-star graphs. These algorithms are both optimal time-wise. Furthermore, we prove that the folded hyper-star, a variation of the hyper-star, to be maixmally fault-tolerant.

Response curves of deterministic and probabilistic cellular automata in one and two dimensions

One of the most important problems in the theory of cellular automata (CA) is determining the proportion of cells in a specific state after a given number of time iterations. We approach this problem using patterns in preimage sets - that is, the set of blocks which iterate to the desired output. This allows us to construct a response curve - a relationship between the proportion of cells in state 1 after niterations as a function of the initial proportion. We derive response curve formulae for many two-dimensional deterministic CA rules with L-neighbourhood. For all remaining rules, we find experimental response curves. We also use preimage sets to classify surjective rules. In the last part of the thesis, we consider a special class of one-dimensional probabilistic CA rules. We find response surface formula for these rules and experimental response surfaces for all remaining rules.

Associations between area-level unemployment, body mass index, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in an urban area

INTRODUCTION: Il existe peu d’évidences sur l’association entre le taux de chômage dans le milieu résidentiel (CR) et le risque de maladies cardiovasculaires parmi les résidents de milieux urbains. De plus, on ne sait pas si ce lien diffère entre les deux sexes. Cette thèse a pour objectif de déterminer la direction et la taille de l’association entre le CR et le risque de maladies cardiovasculaires, et d’examiner si cette association varie en fonction du sexe. MÉTHODES: Un sous-échantillon de 342 participants de l’Étude sur les habitudes de vie et la santé dans les quartiers montréalais a rapporté ses habitudes de vie et sa situation socio-économique. Des mesures biologiques et anthropométriques ont été recueillies par une infirmière. Le CR a été opérationnalisé en fonction d’une zone-tampon d’un rayon de 250 m centrée sur la résidence de chacun des participants à l’aide d’un Système d’Information Géographique (SIG). Des équations d’estimation généralisées ont été utilisées afin d’estimer l’association entre le CR et l’Indice de Masse Corporelle (IMC) et un score cumulatif de Risque Cardio-métabolique (RC) représentant la présence de valeurs élevées de cholestérol total, de triglycérides, de lipoprotéines de haute densité et d’hémoglobine glyquée. RÉSULTATS: Après ajustement pour l’âge, le sexe, le tabagisme, les comportements de santé et le statut socio-économique, le fait de vivre dans un endroit classé dans le 3e ou 4e quartile de CR était associé avec un IMC plus élevé (beta pour Q4 = 2.1 kg/m2, IC 95%: 1.02-3.20; beta pour Q3 = 1.5 kg/m2, IC 95%: 0.55-2.47) et un taux plus élevé de risque cardiovasculaires Risque Relatif [RR pour Q4 = 1.82 (IC 95 %: 1.35-2.44); RR pour Q3 = 1.66 (IC 95%: 1.33-2.06)] par rapport au 1er quartile. L'interaction entre le sexe et le CR révèle une différence absolue d’IMC de 1.99 kg/m2 (IC 95%: 0.00-4.01) et un risque supérieur (RR=1.39; IC 95%: 1.06-1.81) chez les femmes par rapport aux hommes. CONCLUSIONS: Le taux de chômage dans le milieux résidentiel est associé à un plus grand risque de maladies cardiovasculaires, mais cette association est plus prononcée chez les femmes.